


Fallacies

by JCapasso



Series: Beyond [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Legacies (TV 2018), The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:35:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 33
Words: 58,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26880790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JCapasso/pseuds/JCapasso
Summary: The summer after the Prison world crew arrives back in the real world turns out to be a busy one. In addition to reviving the school, one of their new students ends up bringing a great deal of drama from overseas.Note: The Harry Potter timeline is different in this one. Pretend everything in the books/movies was just shifted forward by forty years or so.
Relationships: Bonnie Bennett/Malachai "Kai" Parker, Elena Gilbert/Damon Salvatore, Josette "Jo" Laughlin/Alaric Saltzman, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Series: Beyond [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1832122
Comments: 24
Kudos: 36





	1. Chapter 1

Damon plopped into the chair next to Elena that was clearly set aside for him and Ric rolled his eyes. Leave it to Damon to be the last one to show up five minutes late. When he went to plop his feet up on the conference table, Elena smacked his leg and Damon huffed, but put his feet back on the floor. “Since we’re all here…finally…” Ric started with an amused look at his Vampire Integration teacher. “Let’s get to business. There were a lot of changes this year, and a lot more ideas for continuing changes now that we have more options open to us, now that we have the summer to revamp things. Damon would you like to start us off with the information on your new physical education class since it was your idea?” 

“Sure. Why not,” Damon shrugged. “While hostilities between the species has lessened somewhat in the last few months, there is still a long way to go. From experience I can tell you that the best way to overcome these issues is for these kids to fight side by side. To learn to trust each other and depend on each other. Which is why I want to start a new integrated class where they will be broken into teams containing witches, werewolves, and vampires on each team.” 

“What will the teams be doing?” Emma asked curiously. 

“Problem solving, obstacle courses, and combat,” Damon answered. 

“What grades would be included?” Dorian asked worriedly.

“Just juniors and seniors,” Elena chimed in, having worked through this idea with Damon. “That way the witches will all have a year of offensive magic under their belts and the vampires and werewolves will be settled down from their initial transformations to avoid any accidents.”

“What kind of safeguards will you be implementing?” Jo asked. 

“That’s where I come in,” Bonnie spoke up. “I can enchant some amulets for the witches that will give them the same durability as the werewolves and vampires and the same near instant healing abilities. They can’t wear them for more than two hours a week without playing havoc with their physiology, but since each person would only have one class a week, there won’t be much of a problem there. I plan to give them to Damon and let him hand them out at the beginning of class and collect them back up at the end.” 

“Can you give me the information on these amulets so I can double check that they won’t cause any problems from a medical standpoint?” Jo asked concerned. 

“Sure, I’ll get it to you after the meeting,” Bonnie promised. 

“Anyone else have any questions or concerns about this class?” Ric asked the rest of the teachers. When no one spoke up, he turned back to Damon. “Then I’ll put it on the schedule assuming Jo can’t find any fault with the amulet spell or we can find another safeguard if she does. Next on the agenda was the potential addition of latin classes for the witches.” 

“I think everyone should have the option for those classes, not just witches,” one of the teachers spoke up. 

“Do you have any objections to more students?” Ric asked Damon. 

Damon shrugged. “In language classes, no. There’s not really any need to watch them as closely there.” 

“Okay, then how about we make it mandatory for the witches, but elective for everyone else,” Ric suggested and got nods all around. 

“What grade will we start the language lessons at? And are we going to offer more than just Latin?” 

“I was thinking we start them in sixth grade, as soon as they reach the upper school,” Ric suggested looking to Damon for approval and to answer the other question.”

“Sixth grade works. As far as offering more than just Latin, I’m going to say no, for right now. At least for me teaching it. If I’m going to be teaching seven years of students Latin, at least for the first few years until they start aging out, that’s going to be a lot of classes. I don’t know that I’ll have time for more than that. Maybe later on we can add more once there are fewer classes for that,” Damon told them. 

When no one had anything else to say to that, Ric moved on. “I had an idea I wanted to run by you Elena. What would you think of adding an elective for the seniors who are interested in history and archiving to teach them what you do and also get some assistants to help you go through and organize everything. Maybe we can even keep one or two of them on after graduation if they want to make a career out of it.”

“That could work. It would take lifetimes to get everything done by myself. The translations alone would take a century or more. The help would be appreciated,” Elena agreed.

“We could also offer private study options so that anyone who is interested in more obscure subjects could do so,” Kai suggested. 

“We are all so busy already, who would oversee those students?” Emma asked curiously. 

“That’s a valid concern,” Ric nodded thoughtfully. “Why don’t we see how the new options we’ve already discussed settle and we can come back to that in a year or two if we can find the time and money for it. With so many new classes already, scheduling will be an issue as well.”

“We could always do that for summer sessions if the students are interested. For those who stay year round that is. It would give them a little more structure to their time in the summer and maybe cut down on behavioral issues,” someone suggested. 

“That’s a great idea, Tim,” Jo told him. “And the teachers who stay during the summer could take turns helping them or if some know more than others about their projects.” 

“We can work all that out once we know who wants to participate and what kind of projects they choose,” someone else chimed in. 

“Perfect,” Ric agreed with a nod. “Any other ideas or suggestions?” When no one had any, Ric closed the meeting. “Okay, great. I guess that’s it for today. All of you who are leaving for the summer are free to go as soon as you finish the last of your grading in case you aren’t done yet. The rest of you I’ll see you later. Damon and Kai, hold back for a bit?”

Once the three of them were the last ones in the room, Damon asked, “What’s up?” 

“I wanted to make a change to the home visits when we find potential new students. Usually I take Hope with me and just call MG in when I need someone compelled, but I would like you both to start coming along if you could. Damon for compulsions where necessary and Kai since you’re more knowledgeable about the ins and outs of magic as a whole and you can also sense the magic to make sure that no one gets miscategorized like Wade and Penelope or overlooked like Landon was at first.” 

Damon shrugged and looked at Kai for an answer. “Sure. I don’t mind,” Kai agreed. It had taken him almost two weeks to pinpoint the fact that Penelope wasn’t a normal witch and was, in fact, a shadow nymph. Like Wade, she had been adopted as an infant and thus, had no idea that she was anything other than a normal witch. Unlike Wade, she had no problems using spirit magic though. He could tell she would be better suited for a different type, but he had yet to figure out what or how. It was an ongoing project. 

“Great. Now I got a ping on the map yesterday that I’d like to go check out by tomorrow at the latest. It seems to be a witch, but it’s much stronger than most young children, and it should have been detected sooner if they are older, so I’m not really sure what to expect,” Ric told them. 

“Whatever it is, we can handle it,” Kai assured him. “Leave after breakfast?” 

“Sounds good to me,” Damon agreed.

Ric nodded and had one last request. “Make sure you wear suits. We want to make a good impression.”

The next morning, they were on the road headed for the outskirts of Philadelphia. Since Ric let Damon drive, it only took an hour and a half to get there. It would have been less but they’d had to stop and compel their way out of a speeding ticket. It was just after ten am when they pulled up in front of the moderately sized house in a nice neighborhood. 

Ric was the one to knock on the door, Damon and Kai flanking him from behind. The door was opened rather quickly by a horse faced woman with an expression of distaste. “Can I help you?” she asked. 

“Hello, ma’am. I’m Dr. Alaric Saltzman, headmaster of the Salvatore School. These are two of my teachers, Mr. Damon Salvatore, and Mr Malakai Bennet. We wondered if you had a few moments free to discuss the potential attendance of your child?” 

“Well…I say…” she seemed very caught off guard. “We just moved here last week and hadn’t even begun looking for schools for our little Duddykins, so I can’t say that I know anything about your school…”

“You wouldn’t find us through any normal means,” Ric told her. “We are very elite, and attendance is by invitation only.” 

“I see,” the woman’s eyes lit up in happiness. “In that case, please, come in. Let me get you some tea.” She turned away from the door as she let them in and called out, “Vernon, darling. There are some men here from some elite school. They want to talk about Dudley.” She turned back once they were inside, and said, “Oh, where are my manners. I’m Petunia Dursley, and this is my husband Vernon.”


	2. Chapter 2

Ric introduced the three of them again for the husband, and the men all sat down while Mrs. Dursley bustled about making tea. “Your wife mentioned that you had just moved here,” Damon tried to make small talk while they waited. 

“Yes, from Surrey. In England, you know. My company, Grunnings had an overseas position available and naturally I was offered it first. It’s only temporary mind, but I thought it would be nice to get away for a while, see a bit of the world, you know? Character building for a young lad like my son.” 

Damon immediately disliked the walrus-like man, but Ric and Kai were attempting to reserve judgement. Ric realized why they hadn’t found this child sooner though. If he had been living overseas, the map wouldn’t have picked him up. Once the wife arrived with a tea service after about ten minutes, she sat down and called Dudley in. 

“What?” the child asked petulantly while stuffing his face with a candy bar that seemed to have left as much on his face as in his mouth. None of the men were impressed, except for Vernon of course. 

Kai narrowed his eyes at the boy, and shook his head at the others. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Dursley. Perhaps there’s been some mistake. Is there another child living here by chance?” 

“Why?” she asked suspiciously. 

“I’m afraid young Dudley doesn’t have the gifts that we look for in our school,” Ric tried to say diplomatically. 

“How would you know what gifts he has? You just met him,” she argued, not wanting to take no for an answer. 

“Could we have the wrong house?” Damon asked, ignoring the woman. He could compel her to forget anything he needed her to after all. 

“No, the enchantments were clear. The magical surge was centered on this house,” Ric told him, realizing the same thing. 

Both of the Dursley’s went wide eyed, and Vernon’s face began to purple with rage. Petunia was the first to find words though. “You…you’re…you’re some of those freaks aren’t you?” she all but shrieked. 

“Out. Out I say. I said when we took that little freak in that we were going to stamp that nonsense out of him. I won’t have it in my house! Out!” Vernon yelled as Dudley disappeared back into the kitchen. 

Ric looked at Damon and nodded. He got up and looked into the man’s eyes. “You will calm and tell us about this boy,” he compelled and then did the same to the woman. 

“He was my sister’s son. She was a freak too. Always making freaky things happen and then she went and got herself blown up by some other freak and I got stuck with her freak baby.”

“We never wanted him, but the old freak said we had no choice but to take him. Should have drowned the brat when he was a baby, we should’ve,” Vernon added. 

All three of them were beyond appalled at the tirade, and decided right then and there that they would do whatever was necessary to get the child out of this house. “I see,” Ric managed to say in an almost calm voice. “Well then this is your lucky day. All you have to do is sign these papers to give custody over to the school. He can be a year round student and you never need see him again.” 

“Fine. We’ll sign whatever we need to sign if you’ll keep the little freak away from us,” Vernon promised. 

“What is his name?” Kai asked, venom dripping from his voice. 

“Harry Potter,” Petunia answered with a look of disgust on her face as she took the papers from Vernon to add her own signature. 

“If you’ll call him down and ask him to pack his things, we’ll be on our way immediately,” Damon told her. 

“He has nothing to pack. Nothing in this house belongs to him,” Petunia snapped. “Boy! Get out here!” she screeched. 

When a tiny boy in oversized rags dragged himself out of the cupboard under the stairs, Ric grabbed Damon’s arm. “Damon, don’t.” 

“Yes, Aunt Petunia?” he asked in a small scared voice. 

“You’re going with these men now. You won’t be back. Get out,” she told him. 

Tears welled up in the boy’s eyes and he swallowed heavily looking at the men with even more fear in his eyes, but he didn’t dare argue. “Yes, Aunt Petunia,” he agreed and stepped over to them and let them lead him out. 

As much as they all would have liked to talk to the boy first to try and put him at ease, they wanted to get away from this place as fast as possible first. Kai sat in the back with him, and Ric told Damon. “I’ll drive this time. He’s not used to your driving and we don’t want to scare him.” Damon nodded, still too pissed for words and just dropped the keys in Ric’s hand before going to the passenger side. 

Once they were on the road, Kai took the opportunity to talk to the boy. “I’m sorry we didn’t get introduced back there, but I’m Kai, this is Damon, and that’s Ric driving. We work at a school where you’ll be going from now on.”

“What kind of school?” Harry asked, slightly less afraid. This one seemed nice at least. 

“It’s called the Salvatore School for the Young and Gifted, but we just call it the Salvatore School for short. It’s a school for supernatural children like witches, vampires, and werewolves.”

“But…there’s no such thing,” Harry said confused. 

“Sure there is. Normal humans don’t usually know about them though. They think it’s make-believe, but it’s real, and you’re a witch, which is why we came to offer you a place there.” 

“We should take him shopping first. Get him some clothes and supplies,” Damon suggested, finally able to speak again. 

“Bon and I can do that once we get there,” Kai offered. 

“Thank you, Kai,” Ric said relieved. “While you’re going that, I can get the paperwork filed for guardianship and admittance. Damon if you would check in with the lower school and have Emma set up for a special child.” That was code for abused child that would need extra care. 

Kai took the opportunity to whisper so quietly that only Damon’s vampire ears would be able to hear him, “and make sure you let the witch teachers know that the wards will ping when we bring him in and not to worry about it.” When Damon turned to look at him confusedly Kai just shook his head almost imperceptibly and cut his eyes towards the little boy. 

Damon nodded, getting the hint that he didn’t want to talk about it in front of the kid and answered Ric’s question. “I can. Once he has everything he needs, we should have Jo check him over too. Just to make sure he’s okay,” Damon suggested. He didn’t seem to be too injured so it could wait. He knew how cruel children could be and having him walking around in those rags wouldn’t make things easier on him if the other kids saw him first. 

While they were talking Kai was explaining things to Harry. “Emma is one of the teachers for the younger kids and Jo is my sister. She’s the doctor at the school.” He knew from his own experience that the more he understood of the conversations going on around him, the more comfortable he would be. “How old are you?” 

“Seven,” Harry told him. 

“That’s great. I have a daughter your age named Carrie. Damon’s son Damien is your age too,” Kai explained. 

“Are they witches too? Will they be at the school?” Harry asked tentatively, hoping that he was allowed to ask questions now. They seemed much nicer than his aunt and uncle at least so maybe they wouldn’t hurt him for it. 

“Carrie is a witch, Damien is a vampire, and yes they are both at the school. You’ll meet them once we get you all settled after your shopping trip and the doctor visit.”

“You don’t need to buy me stuff. I can just use someone else’s old clothes. Freaks don’t deserve new things and doctors are a waste of time and energy,” Harry explained, not wanting to be a bother and repeating what his aunt and uncle told him. 

None of them dared to speak for a moment after that and even Kai had to mentally count to ten before he could trust himself to do so. “You are not a freak and all boys deserve new clothes and should see a doctor. The way they treated you was wrong and you will never have to worry about that again.” 

“W-will I…” Harry started and stopped himself. It would be cheeky to ask for more from these nice people. 

“Will you what, little one?” Kai asked gently. 

“W-will I be…allowed to eat too?” he asked so hopefully that all three men’s hearts broke. 

“Absolutely,” Kai assured him. “In fact, I want to see you eating as much as you can at every meal.” 

Ric almost ran off the road at the question as Damon snarled as quietly as he could manage, “And you stopped me from killing them, why?” 

“Because there is another boy in that house that doesn’t deserve to lose his parents and it would make the guardianship issue much more murky and then who knows where he would have ended up,” Ric answered, wishing he could turn back and let the vampire have his way. Harry’s question did prompt him to take the next exit and pull into the McDonalds for an early lunch. They didn’t want anyone questioning them over the child’s state so they hit the drive thru and ate in the car back on the road and little Harry got his first Happy Meal, though he only managed to eat half of it, which worried all three of them. A visit to Jo was definitely on the list for the day. 

During the two and a half hour drive, the three men told Harry more about the school and the people there and after a while Harry even felt comfortable enough to ask some more questions, mostly about witches, vampires, and werewolves and the kinds of things he would learn there.


	3. Chapter 3

Once they got back to the school and Kai and Bonnie headed out shopping with Harry, Bonnie was quick to fall in love with him too, and more than a little tempted to curse his family. In the end, Kai managed to talk her into at least waiting until the guardianship was finalized with the school. Since school uniforms would be provided, they only needed to buy Harry a few sets of casual clothes, along with shoes, undergarments, and toiletries, so it was a relatively quick trip and Jo was waiting for them when they got back. 

Kai wanted the basic medical stuff figured out before he did anything with the soul magic attached to the boy, so he waited patiently while Jo did her diagnostic and left Harry in the exam room to come back and talk to them. Ric, Damon, and Elena had joined them again by that point to hear the results. Jo started with the easy stuff. “He has a lot of bruises that could be caused by boys rough-housing, but I doubt it. Based on the other things I found and his general demeanor, I can say with relative certainty that he was abused.”

“What other things did you find?” Ric asked worriedly, not needing any explanation about the demeanor. Even once he had started opening up to asking questions, he still acted like he expected to be hit for them. 

“He is seriously malnourished. If not for his innate magic helping him along he would likely be a lot worse off. His eyesight and muscle tone have been affected, but should correct once we get him on a good diet and take care of his nutrient deficiencies. If not we will need to see about getting him to an optometrist for some glasses. He’s not bad enough yet to need them badly, but if I didn’t expect improvement I would still be recommending them.”

“I’ll make him an appointment in a month and we can just cancel it if he shows enough improvement,” Ric decided. 

Jo nodded her acceptance of that idea and continued. “Thankfully, there aren’t any signs of broken or fractured bones, but he does have a sprained shoulder and wrist, judging by the bruises, from being manhandled too roughly. I’ve got him in a brace and a sling and gave him some pain medication and he should be fine in about two weeks. Please tell me he’s a year-round student now and doesn’t have to go back to that house?”

“He is,” Ric assured her. “I already filed the paperwork so it should be finalized in a few days.”

“Now what was that about the wards?” Damon jumped in now that the medical stuff was out of the way.

“He has some type of soul magic attached to him,” Kai explained. 

“Soul magic?!” Elena asked alarmed. 

“His magic is completely pure, so it’s not something that he’s done, nor is it affecting him beyond the surface. Best I can tell it’s centered around that scar on his forehead,” Kai assured them. 

“Can you siphon it?” Bonnie asked hopefully. 

“I can. I just wanted to make sure there weren’t any other underlying medical factors that could cause complications. Plus I would like Jo there just in case there are other side-effects that I can’t foresee.”

“Do you expect side-effects?” Jo asked her brother. 

“No. I don’t. The fact that it hasn’t tainted his magic at all means that it is almost certainly completely separate from him, but I don’t want to take any chances with a kid,” he told her.

“Then we should probably get that done as soon as possible,” Ric told them. 

Jo and Kai headed back into the room, and Kai took a moment to talk to Harry. “Okay, so I’m guessing Jo told you that you’re gonna be okay, right?” When Harry nodded, Kai continued. “Good. Now there is a little problem with your scar that I can fix for you. It’ll probably feel a little icky and you might feel a bit of a tugging feeling, but make sure you let me know if it hurts at all.” 

“It’s okay if it hurts. I can handle it,” Harry said bravely. 

“I’m sure you can, kiddo,” Kai said with a sad smile. “But if it does hurt, it means that the problem is worse than I thought and if I keep going it can hurt both of us pretty badly, so I still need you to let me know, okay?” 

“Okay. Promise,” Harry said solemnly with wide eyes. The last thing he wanted to do is hurt the man who had been so nice to him and even bought him new clothes and stuff. 

“Okay, good. Now just hold as still as you can,” Kai told him gently and placed his fingertips on the lightning bolt shaped scar. 

If Jo wasn’t worried, then she might have been amused at the look on Harry’s face. Clearly it did feel ‘icky’ but she was also watching for any signs of pain that he might try to keep to himself. Thankfully there weren’t any and a moment later she coughed and grabbed onto the side of the exam bed as a wave of vertigo and nausea hit her just before Kai let go and stepped back. “You good Josie?” Kai asked, slipping into his old name for his sister in his concern. 

“I’m okay. It’s already passed. Are you okay?” she asked him, pressing a hand to his forehead to check for a fever and frowning. 

“I will be. It’ll take a few hours for my body to fight it off, but it was just a small piece,” Kai assured her. He couldn’t help but roll his eyes as she stuck a thermometer in his mouth and chuckled around it. 

“Ninety nine point eight. Not bad. I still want you to rest for at least a few hours though. Ric and I can get him settled in,” Jo ordered. 

“Yes ma’am,” Kai teased and reached out to ruffle Harry’s hair. “You’ll be in good hands, kiddo. Ric and Jo are the bosses of the whole school so they’ll take good care of you.”

“I’m sorry,” Harry said in a small voice.

“Sorry for what?” Kai asked with a worried frown. 

“I didn’t mean to make you sick,” he sniffled. 

Kai crouched down in front of him and put a finger under his chin to make the child look at him. “You didn’t make me sick,” he said seriously. “There was some bad magic attached to you that wasn’t your fault at all. That’s what is making me sick, not you. I’m just glad that I was able to help you get rid of it before it made you sick.” 

“I don’t mind being sick,” Harry said biting his lip. 

“Maybe not, and I’m sure you will get sick sometimes, but if that magic had been left in you for too long it could have made you a lot more sick than I am now. Plus, it’s the job of the adults to take care of kids. Even if it means getting sick sometimes. It would make me a bad person if I didn’t help you,” Kai told him. He knew that it would take more than one conversation to get that point across. He had been in Harry’s shoes himself.

“He’s right,” Jo stepped in shooing Kai out the door. “You deserve to be taken care of just like everyone else. If you want I can have Kai come see you when he’s better so you can see for yourself that he’s okay.” When Harry nodded profusely, Jo smiled and lifted him down from the table, taking his good hand in hers. “What do you say we go see where you’ll be sleeping and meet some of the other kids?” 

“Okay,” Harry said timidly. He had never had good experiences with other kids before. 

Ric met them outside and they headed towards the lower school building. Neither of them realized that Damon had already been by and told the Salvatore and Bennett kids about the new student and asked them to make him welcome. He hadn’t told them anything that would be considered private by the boy like his abuse, just that he was shy and nervous. Their kids well remembered that feeling from coming to a whole new world and meeting people outside the family for the first time so they could relate. 

Since Damien and Carrie were the ones that were Harry’s age, they were the only ones to approach him when they got there. “Hi. I’m Damien. This is Carrie. Want to play with us?” he asked. 

Jo chuckled at the enthusiasm and smiled at Harry when he looked up at her with wide hopeful eyes. “You go ahead and play while I go put your stuff away. I’ll make sure someone shows you where it all is later.” 

Carrie took that opportunity to grab Harry’s hand when Jo dropped it. “Come on. You can meet our sisters. My brothers are at the big school, but they still come visit lots. You’ll probably meet them tomorrow. We’re just drawing now. It’s not your drawing hand that’s hurt is it? If it is, we can do something else instead,” she chattered at him in her usual outgoing manner. 

“No, I can draw with my other hand,” Harry told her, not quite sure what to make of her, but willing to go along for now. No one else had ever been nice to him before, but maybe since Dudley wasn’t here to chase everyone away, things could be different here. He hoped so. It would be nice to have some friends.


	4. Chapter 4

True to predictions it only took three days for the guardianship to be finalized. As with all of the orphaned students, it was assigned to the school overall, and himself and Jo specifically as the heads of the school. They had been checking in on Harry daily to see how he was settling in and they were proud of how he was doing. He had come out of his shell a great deal, mostly due to his new best friends Damien and Carrie taking him under their wing. Granted, they didn’t sleep in the dorms with him, but the other kids in their circle looked out for him in the evenings and at night. He still had some nightmares and tried to keep them to himself, but one of the other kids always went and got a teacher to help him. 

Harry had been at the Salvatore school for almost two weeks when there was a flash of flame in Ric’s office and a man appeared with a bright red bird on his shoulder. The man was wearing what seemed to be a dress in particularly eyewatering colors and had a long beard down to his waist and his white hair was nearly as long. “Can I help you?” Ric asked with a raised eyebrow. He didn’t think of himself as a closed-minded person. The fact that the man was wearing a dress didn’t bother him a bit. However, the fact that he had somehow transported himself directly into the office without an appointment, a phone call, or even knocking, bothered him a great deal. Not only was it beyond rude, but it represented a serious security risk if he was able to do that. He would have to get Bonnie on figuring out how he did that and finding a way to block it. 

“Yes, so sorry to barge in like this, but I need to speak with you about one of your students,” the man told him. 

“I’m very busy right now, but if you’ll see my assistant outside, you’re free to make an appointment,” Ric tried to brush him off. 

“I’m afraid that this is a very urgent matter and cannot wait. Perhaps I should introduce myself. My name is Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, and holder of the Order of Merlin First Class.”

Ric narrowed his eyes at the man. No matter how important he seemed to be wherever he came from it didn’t give him the right to be rude. Not to mention that the entire introduction alone made him seem more than a little pompous. He was clearly someone not used to taking no for an answer, and judging by the accent, he was likely here about young Harry Potter. He was going to need backup. Especially since he didn’t have magic of his own to protect him. “I see. In that case, I should gather my heads of department if it’s as serious and urgent as you say. One moment.” He was just glad that he wasn’t stopped when he reached for the phone. “Hope, could you ask the elder Salvatores and Bennets as well as Ms. Tig and Mr. Williams to join me in the faculty conference room immediately please?” 

“Right away Dr Saltzman,” Hope told him, recognizing the tension in his voice and knowing that it was urgent. 

“Right this way,” Ric told Dumbledore, leading him to the conference room. “Please. Have a seat. My staff should be joining us momentarily.”

“Thank you my dear boy. It is good to get off these old bones for a while,” Dumbledore said as he took a seat regally. 

Ric could see right through his routine. Speaking to him as though he were a child, emphasizing his age in an attempt to seem wise, and acting as though everything done was for his benefit. It was subtle, but he knew quite a bit about psychology. It was somewhat of a requirement to run a school after all. Damon and Elena were the first to enter the room, having used their vampire speed to get there. They looked curiously at the old man, but Ric shook his head. “We’ll take care of introductions once everyone has arrived.” He looked back at the old man and took the opportunity to ask, partially to bide time, “That is a very interesting bird you have. May I ask what type it is?” 

“This is a phoenix. My familiar. His name is Fawkes,” Dumbledore explained. 

“A phoenix,” Ric gasped and scrutinized the bird curiously. “We have a young phoenix here at the school. He knows next to nothing about his own kind and we have been able to find very little in the way of information ourselves,” he addressed more to the bird than the man. 

Ric was more than a little surprised when he heard a voice in his head. “The old wizard thinks me nothing more than a semi-intelligent bird. If you will keep my secret, I will come see you soon to meet this young phoenix.” Ric gave an almost imperceptible nod, before shaking his head at Kai who was also scrutinizing the bird. He would explain later. 

“What’s going on headmaster?” Dorian asked suspiciously as he was the last one in. It wasn’t often that they were called to an urgent meeting during the summer. 

While they were waiting, Ric decided to not play the old man’s games and introduce him by the only title that was somewhat relevant in these halls. “This is Headmaster Dumbledore of Hogwarts School. Mr. Dumbledore, this is my wife Josette Saltzman, head of medicine and healing, Malakai Bennet, head of magical research, Bonnie Bennett, head of the witch department, Damon Salvatore, head of the vampire department and acting head of the werewolf department, Elena Salvatore, head of archival studies, Emma Tig, head of the lower school, and Dorian Williams, chief administrator, and of course, I am the headmaster here, Dr Alaric Saltzman.” He made up most of the titles on the spot since he wasn’t one for assigning stuffy sounding titles, but he was going to play by this man’s game for now. “Mr. Dumbledore is here with an urgent issue regarding one of our students. Mr. Dumbledore?” he gave the old man the floor. 

“I have come to learn that you have recently accepted a student that cannot be allowed to attend here. He must be returned to his aunt and uncle’s home immediately for his own safety,” Dumbledore told them. 

“And which student would this be?” Emma asked, picking up the accent and having a suspicion. 

“A Mr. Harry Potter,” Dumbledore told them, assuming that the question meant that they were acceding to his request. 

“Over my dead body,” Damon snarled. 

“I agree with Mr. Salvatore. Returning any child to an abusive household is not something I would ever allow, much less a magical child,” Ric told him. 

“I assure you that the boy is simply exaggerating…”

“I assure you that he was not!” Jo snapped. “He was severely malnourished, covered in bruises, with a sprained shoulder and wrist. His eyesight and muscle tone was diminished due to the malnourishment.” 

“Not to mention a nasty piece of soul magic attached to his head that would have caused him serious problems if he had gotten much weaker before I was able to remove it,” Kai added.

“And the fact that we watched him come out of his bedroom…a damned cupboard of all places,” Damon growled.

“And he is psychologically traumatized and has been having nightmares ever since he arrived due to his treatment in that house and what I can only surmise is the death of his parents,” Emma finished. 

“I see…well…I suppose I will need to speak with them about ensuring the boy is better cared for in the future…” Dumbledore tried to push them off. 

“Speak with them all you wish, he will not be returning,” Ric told him. “His guardianship was legitimately signed over by his legal guardians, which means that I make the decisions regarding his care from this point on.”

“He has already been registered as a ward of the school as well as being a student with the government here. His student visa is in order, and he cannot be legally removed from these premises by you or anyone else,” Dorian explained. 

“Yes well, that is all with the muggle government. I happen to be his magical guardian…”

“Which means nothing here,” Elena told him, being most familiar with the magical government structure from her archiving. While Kai was the expert in the magics, she found the entire magical government idea fascinating and frequently stopped to read while she was filing. “That title is only valid in your little subsect of your home country. As soon as he left those borders, only his legal physical guardians had any claim on him at all.” 

“There are factors in play here that you are not aware of,” he tried to explain. 

“I don’t care what factors there are. There is NO excuse to allow a child to be mistreated. NONE!” Kai said venomously as he started to lose his hold on his normally even temper. The only one who had ever seen him so angry was Jo and she couldn’t help but flinch. Bonnie reached out and took his hand, letting her magic flow into him in an attempt to calm him. 

“My husband is right, Mr. Dumbledore. There is nothing that will ever convince any of us to return him to that home. Period,” Bonnie said in a voice the brooked no argument. 

Dumbledore took a moment to consider his options before realizing that he may as well drop that subject for the moment. He would have to find another way. “I see. In that case, let us move on to another relevant subject. Mr. Potter has been down for Hogwarts School since his birth. His parents signed him up and even paid his full tuition in advance.”

“Then why was he not already in your school?” Ric asked. 

“We don’t admit students until they are eleven years old,” Dumbledore explained.

“Then he will attend here at least until then. When he turns eleven, if he wishes to attend your school, we can discuss the matter then,” Ric said with a note of finality. 

“I’m afraid I can’t leave here without the reassurance…” 

“I’m afraid you must, Mr. Dumbledore,” Bonnie said standing up. As the strongest of the witches, if it came to a show of force, she would be the one to do so. 

“It appears you will not see reason…” he said as he pulled his wand from his sleeve. None of them present had any idea what the stick was, but Kai could feel the magic coming from it and gathering at the tip and threw out his hand to yank the stick away. As soon as it hit his palm he felt it warm and attempt to push a foreign type of magic into him and he dropped it onto the table quickly. 

“And it seems that you have overstayed your welcome, Mr. Dumbledore,” Ric said coldly. “I will ask you to take your bird and leave now and do not return.” Dumbledore opened his mouth to say something further, but apparently the bird took the order because they flashed away before any words could escape his mouth. He'd barely had enough time to scoop up his wand from the table before they disappeared.


	5. Chapter 5

There was a little more talk about Harry, mostly speculation on why he would be so important to the old man before the meeting broke up. Kai stayed after though and followed Ric into his office. Before Kai could say anything, Ric had the first question. “What was with that stick thing?” 

“It is apparently a device used to channel magic, but what kind I can’t be sure yet. It felt familiar but not. I’ll have to look into it a little more and see whether it’s a threat or how much of one,” Kai told him. 

“Consider that your highest priority for the moment please,” Ric told him. 

“I will,” Kai promised. “Now the bird…”

“I made a promise to the bird and I’m not sure whether he meant for me to keep the secret just from the old man or from everyone,” Ric said apologetically. 

Before Kai could explain what he had already figured out, there was another flash of fire and Kai took a defensive stance in case the old man was coming back, but relaxed somewhat when it faded to reveal the bird alone. “I know you are a phoenix,” Kai told the bird. “But do you mean anyone here any harm?” 

The phoenix blurred and there was a man sitting on the chair in his place. The man had short curly dark hair and his upper body was as muscular as his lower body was lean. He was wearing a golden circlet around his head and wearing a long white toga in a clearly masculine style with a gold belt. “You were introduced as the head of magical research were you not?” he asked Kai.

“That’s correct. I’ve been trying to help our young phoenix find his way, but there is so little written about your kind and so much of it is little more than rumor…”

“That you’ve found anything at all is a testament to your skills. I had thought my kind extinct. If there is another, I would very much like to meet him,” he looked between the two men. 

“I understand that, and would appreciate any help you can give,” Ric started hesitantly. “But his safety and well-being is my first priority. I need to be sure that he won’t come to any harm or be removed from the school against his will.”

“And if it is his will to come with me?” 

“Then he will, of course, be free to do so. As long as he is not coerced into his decision,” Ric promised. 

The man nodded in acceptance with a pleased smile. “You are a good schoolmaster. Unlike the one I’ve just left. You have my word that he will come to no harm. For our people, to harm another of our kind is all but unthinkable. I don’t foresee a need to remove him from this school either unless he truly wishes to leave.” 

Ric looked at Kai and nodded. “I’ll take you to him if you like,” Kai offered, and the man nodded and followed him. Kai realized that judging by his dress he was ancient and in an effort not to offend, he stayed silent. He knew that any of his questions would be best to wait for Landon anyway. 

“Tell me about my young relative?” the phoenix asked. 

“Of course. His name is Landon Kirby. He’s been here for about six months. He came with his foster brother Raphael who accidentally activated his werewolf curse. I wasn’t here yet, so I couldn’t sense his magic and no one was sure whether he was human or not…”

“You are a sifonistís? A siphoner?” the phoenix interrupted. 

“I am,” Kai nodded. 

“It is an honor to meet you then Malakai,” he nodded. 

“Y-you too,” Kai stammered slightly. Reading about how siphoners were revered in the past was a very different thing than experiencing such. When nothing else was said on the matter, Kai continued with the previous subject. “Since no one could find anything magical about him with the normal tests they were going to send him home, but he fought tooth and nail to stay here with his foster brother. He is exceptionally loyal and strong-willed.”

“That is a common trait among phoenixes. How was it learned that he was a phoenix?” 

“He and a few other students snuck away from school. There was an incident and he was killed. When he turned to ash and then rose again, they figured it out and started trying to help him along. When I arrived, I had some information on phoenixes already, and I’ve been digging through my archives looking for more. I’ve showed him everything I’ve managed to find, but as I mentioned it’s not much.” 

“Since you are a siphoner, I assume that you found Mt. Olympus by sensing the magic there and that’s where you got the information you have?” the phoenix guessed. 

“I didn’t know that it was Mt. Olympus, but there was a magically hidden castle on a mountain in Greece, yes. My family and I spent nearly a decade travelling the world and collecting the knowledge and then another decade researching and organizing all that knowledge.” He hesitated a bit before asking his next question. “Would you mind if I stick around while you and Landon talk? I would love to learn more about phoenixes as well.” 

The phoenix considered that for a moment before nodding. “I have no objections as long as young Landon does not. Assuming you will agree to keep anything personal to yourself.” 

“Of course. Even among the general information I find, I don’t share anything that could be considered too personal or that Landon would prefer I not share with the students as a whole,” Kai promised as he stopped in front of the large building. “These are the werewolf dorms. You might want to wait out here while I go get him.”

The phoenix nodded. “I have heard stories of how territorial werewolves can be. There are many in the United Kingdom. I will wait out outside.” 

Kai rushed inside, only accepted because he was a teacher, and up to Landon’s room. When he knocked on the door it didn’t take long for the teen in question to open it. Kai didn’t tell him anything other than that there was someone he needed to meet. Landon shrugged and followed him downstairs curiously. Once they got outside, Kai gestured to the strangely dressed man. “Landon this is…um…”

“Hephaestus,” the phoenix offered as he tilted his head at Landon. “It’s true. You are a phoenix. I had thought I was the last…”

“You’re a phoenix?” Landon asked wide-eyed and excited. When Hephaestus nodded, Landon grinned. “I have so many questions!”

“First, do you have any objection to your teacher joining us for this conversation?” the older phoenix asked. 

“No, not at all. Mr. Bennett has been helping me a lot,” Landon said with another grin for his teacher, the thanks clear in his eyes, both for the previously offered help and for bringing Hephaestus to talk to him. 

“Good. Then ask your questions young one and I will answer what I can.”

“Well, I guess the big thing is…what can I do? I mean I haven’t been able to do any magic here or anything and I’m not strong or fast or special at all really,” Landon said, clearly disappointed. 

“Of course, you’re special Landon,” Kai couldn’t help but interject there. “Just because we don’t know how yet, doesn’t change that.”

“Your teacher is correct. The powers of a phoenix aren’t flashy like those of witches, but they are great. Beginning with what you will be able to access now…do you sing?” 

“Not in front of people or anything, but I do like to sing,” Landon said a bit sheepishly. 

“You will find that you can project your emotions in your voice. For example, if you are singing a happy song, those hearing it will feel happy. You can also, with practice, direct that power. You can make a particular person feel happy. You will want to be careful how you use it though since it can affect others in different ways when you do. Those who are against the person you are singing to will feel the opposite. The strength of that would depend on the strength of their antagonistic feelings.”

“So like if I wanted to sing to someone to give them strength during a fight, the person their fighting would get weaker? Or if I sang them courage, their enemy would be afraid?” Landon asked. 

“Precisely,” Hephaestus nodded. “You are still too young to produce the emotions in sufficient strength to cause true damage yet, but it will get stronger as you age.”

“These emotions that he can incite in people…do they linger or is it only for the duration of the song?” Kai asked. 

“Primarily for the duration of the song. They can bask in those feelings for a bit of time afterwards, but they fade within minutes. Much like waking from a dream.” When there were no more questions about that ability, he continued. “Your tears will also contain healing properties, but only when the emotion is behind the tears. Again, it will gain strength as you age, but for now you would be able to heal minor to moderate injuries or illnesses.”

“Would I be able to store some of those tears for later?” Landon asked. “Like I could give them to the infirmary in case someone is hurt and needs them?” 

Hephaestus nodded with a proud smile at the teenager. “Yes. You could. But remember, the tears must contain the emotion to have power. You should already be developing empathy, though it may not be strong enough to completely notice yet, but if there is no one around whose feelings you can immerse in for that emotion I find that it helps to bring to mind pain from the past to fuel it.”

“Yeah. I have plenty of that,” Landon said with a sad smile.

“I am sorry to hear that, young one,” Hephaestus said regretfully. 

Landon shrugged. “It is what it is. Is there anything else for right now? When will I have full use of my powers? What else will I be able to do later?”


	6. Chapter 6

“Have you found your wings yet?” Hephaestus asked. When Landon shook his head and looked confusedly at the older phoenix, he explained a little more. “It usually happens sometime between the fifteenth and twentieth year of life. It’s a right of passage. A coming of age of sorts. I am glad that I did not miss it,” he said affectionately. 

Landon couldn’t help but smile at that too as Kai did his best to stay out of the bonding portion of the conversation. “How does it happen? What should I expect?”

“It usually happens the first time during a time of heightened emotion. Any kind of emotion will do. You will feel a tightening feeling in your chest followed by a stinging sensation in your back. The wings will seem to be made of fire, but will only burn what you intend to burn, so be careful of any feelings of anger during that time lest you harm someone on accident.”

“Will I be able to fly?” Landon asked hopefully. 

“You will, though you will have far less grace than you would once you gain your avian form,” the old phoenix explained and upon anticipating the next question, answered it. “You won’t gain that form until your fiftieth year of life. Upon your first natural burning day, you’ll gain your new form. From there you can go back and forth at will.” 

Kai jumped in to ask a question that Landon would probably not even consider since he hadn’t seen the possibility. “What about the fire traveling that you did earlier?” 

“We call it flaming. We use the flames to disappear from one location and appear in another,” he explained to Landon and then answered the question. “You will have a limited ability to do so once you gain your wings, but to be able to fully access the power requires you to be in your avian form. It has happened occasionally in the past where in times of great desperation a phoenix has flamed before the wings have come in, but that is rare and only in the most extreme of circumstances.” 

“That is so cool. Can I take other people with me that way too? Or just myself?” Landon asked. 

“In your avian form, you can take others with you. In your human form, it is not recommended unless it is a matter of life and death. It only works about half the time and when it fails it can cause serious injury or even death,” Hephaestus warned. 

By the time they got to the other side of the lake, Landon couldn’t think of any more questions about his powers, so he moved on to more personal questions. “How did you end up here?” he asked curiously. “Did you hear about me or…”

“It was at least somewhat of a coincidence. Or perhaps the fates had a hand in it. I have been living in my avian form for a very long time and found a human to watch over. It gave me some connection to the magical world without giving up the secret of my existence. The human I have been with had business here today, and had me transport him. When he introduced me to your headmaster as a phoenix, your headmaster told me about you in the hope that I would help you find your way.” 

Landon smiled wistfully. “I’ll have to thank him then.”

“He cares a great deal for the children under his care,” Hephaestus told him. 

“Why were you living as a bird? Why keep what we really are a secret?” Landon asked curiously, not sure how to respond to the statement. 

“That story begins a very long time ago. I was married to a woman whom I loved dearly. Her beauty was intoxicating and we were married for many years. Until I learned that she had been unfaithful and she left me for her lover. I took to my avian form in an attempt to outrun the pain, and rarely took my human form again after that. When a witch managed to enchant weapons that would actually kill phoenixes permanently many centuries later, we were hunted to near extinction. We could hide in our avian forms, but most were too attached to the human form and were caught and killed. When I was the last, or so I thought, I took to my avian form permanently. Today is the first time I have taken this form in more than two thousand years and phoenixes were considered myths.”

“So the human you were with…he knew you were a phoenix, but not what that meant?” Kai asked curiously. 

“Yes. He asked what I was and I told him Phoenix. Just the one word. I wanted to see what he would do with it. He was more than a little disappointing though. Despite giving him that word, he never even attempted to find out if I could speak more. He treated me like a pet…a beloved pet, but a pet just the same. He called me his familiar and I was nothing more than a semi-intelligent bird to him.”

“So…are you staying? Or do you want me to go with you? Or…” Landon asked nervously. 

“I don’t know that I can stay permanently. There is a lot going on at home that I at least want to keep an eye on. Assuming your headmaster allows it, I will visit often and teach you what I can, though. As far as coming with me, from the little I’ve seen, this is a good place for you. If you’re unhappy here, I will take you away, but otherwise, you’re welcome to stay.” 

Landon considered it for a moment. “As long as Dr. Saltzman lets you come teach me, I’d like to stay, but if not…I think it’s more important that I learn more about what I am.” 

“I think that as long as it doesn’t put any of the other students at risk, Dr. Saltzman would be glad to have Hephaestus come as often as he would like,” Kai chimed in. Normally family visits were kept to a minimum to not disrupt the learning environment, but this was a special case. 

“I got the same impression,” Hephaestus agreed. “Just know, young one, that I consider you my family. You can come to me as you would any family.”

Landon blinked the tears out of his eyes and swallowed heavily. “O-okay. Thanks. How…um…how would I contact you if I need to?”

“Just call for me in your mind and I will hear you,” Hephaestus told him. “For now, I should be getting back. I will return soon. Perhaps as soon as tomorrow.” Landon nodded and when Hephaestus pulled him into a hug, he returned it gratefully. The old phoenix stepped back and turned into a bird before vanishing in a flash of flame. 

“Okay, that’s awesome,” Landon said in awe at the sight.

Kai chuckled and threw an arm over Landon’s shoulders. “That it is. Just think, someday you’ll be able to do that too.”

“I can’t wait,” Landon said with a grin. “Thanks for this Mr. Bennett. And thank Dr. Saltzman too.”

“Anytime, Landon. And now that we know what you can do, we can start practicing and training up those powers.”

“Does this mean I can drop some of the magic classes since we know for a fact now that I’ll never be able to cast magic?” Landon had been taking a smattering of classes across all the disciplines until it was learned what he could do.

“Well that would be more something to discuss with Dr. Saltzman, but I don’t see why not. There isn’t much point in you taking Spellcrafting or offensive magic if you can’t actually cast it.” As they got back to the werewolf dorms, Kai brought up another subject. “One other thing I wanted to discuss with you, that seems a bit more relevant now, is getting you another place to stay.”

“Why?” Landon asked worriedly, not sure how he felt about moving out of the wolf dorms and away from Raphael. 

“No one is going to force you to move if you don’t want to,” Kai assured him, seeing the worry in his eyes. “But it would be safer for you, and easier for us to find you if necessary, if you were in either the new dorms or the witch dorms. You know how the wolves feel about other people in their territory, which is why Hephaestus waited outside while I came in to get out.” They had been hoping he would move for a while now. He’d been hurt more than once by the rowdy wolves, though it hadn’t been bad enough for anyone to want to force the issue. Now that there was another argument for it, hopefully he could be talked into it. 

“I don’t know. I’ll think about it. And talk to Raph,” Landon promised. 

It was more than they’d ever gotten before on that subject, so Kai just nodded. “Just let someone know when and if you decide to move and we’ll take care of it.”


	7. Chapter 7

Over the next few weeks things settled into a new normal. Hephaestus came by to spend time with Landon for a few hours at least a few times a week. Kai didn’t go along most of the time, since it was more about bonding. He had the basic information that he needed from the first visit and Landon had suggested writing a paper for extra credit in next year’s class about what it means to be a phoenix, so he was perfectly happy to wait and read the paper. Once Landon was up to speed, Kai had every intention of trying to build his own relationship with the ancient phoenix to get more information about the ancient times and how they lived, but for now, Landon was more important. As was his own research into the magic of the European witches.

Harry was also still doing well. His nightmares had dropped off to only once or twice a week and he was coming out of his shell more and more. He had hit it off pretty well with Gabe and little Kai too and they started to see him as a surrogate little brother. The adults were all glad to see that he was recovering well from his treatment. True to Jo’s prediction his eyes and muscle tone repaired themselves as he recovered from the malnutrition, helped along by the nutrient potions that had been found in the files from the prison world. Since he had the time over the summer he was being caught up on what was learned in the first two years so that he could be in the same classes as Damien and Carrie. The little bit that wasn’t taught in human schools anyway. Since most of it at their level was human subjects, there wasn’t much and was easily caught up over the summer. All he needed was to learn how to connect to his inner magic and how it related to the world around them, which meant plenty of time in the gardens.

It was the middle of July and Harry had been there for six weeks already when the next issue regarding him came up. Ric looked up from his paperwork at the knock on the door. He was just finishing up the admittance paperwork for a new student as he called Dorian in. “There are a couple guys at the gates with British accents that want to talk about little Harry.”

“At least they used the gates like a civilized person,” Ric muttered. Since they were actually being polite, he didn’t want to turn them away out of hand. “Okay, let them in, but walk slowly. The lower school is working inside today so there shouldn’t be any chance of them seeing him. I’ll get the same group as last time and you can bring them to the conference room.” 

Dorian agreed and headed back out while Ric made the phone calls to get every there. Everyone else got there in just enough time to take their seats before the two men were led in. Dorian took his seat as the others looked the men over appraisingly for a moment. The doctor in Jo wanted to get them both straight to her exam rooms and fix them up. They both looked more than a little ill. 

Ric was the first one to break the silence. “Have a seat gentleman,” he offered, seeing that they were waiting for the invitation. He couldn’t help but smile back at their grateful smiles. They seemed much more down to earth than their last visitor from there. 

“Do you always call in the calvary when people come to visit?” the long haired one joked weakly. 

“Given that the last person who came from over there to speak with us about the student in question tried to strongarm us into returning the child to an abusive home and then attack when we refused, I thought it would be best to be careful,” Ric told him. 

“Abusive home?!” the long haired one said angrily, jumping to his feet. “Who would dare…!” 

“Sirius, sit down,” the other one hissed, pulling on his arm. “Sorry about him. He’s just worried about Harry.” 

“That’s a perfectly understandable reaction to that statement,” Kai assured them with a nod as he continued to try and figure them out. He could tell that the quiet one was a wolf, but he’d never known a quiet wolf. They were usually the ones with the tempers. 

“Maybe we should get the introductions out of the way,” Jo suggested. 

Ric nodded and went around the table to introduce the faculty, without the fancy titles this time, and then it was their turn. “I’m Sirius Black, Harry’s godfather, and this is Remus Lupin. His back-up godfather.”

“Show them the wills,” Remus prompted Sirius who shook himself for forgetting and pulled two scrolls from his pocket and handed them to Ric. 

He unrolled them and upon realizing what they were, he scrolled down to the section about guardianship of their son. It clearly stated that Sirius Black was first in line for guardianship after their deaths. The first thing he needed to do was to make sure they were legitimate. “Kai?” he asked as he handed them over. 

Kai knew exactly what he was being asked for. The only thing that he could do better than anyone else at the table. He took the papers, one in each hand and read the magics in them, made much easier by the fact that they were signed in blood. “They were definitely written by Harry’s parents,” he told him as he handed them back. 

“How did you do that?” Remus asked curiously. 

“I’m a siphoner,” Kai told them. “I can pull magic from my surroundings, which means reading and analyzing that magic.” 

Both of the newcomers looked at him almost like he was the second coming for a moment before they turned back to Ric who was thinking fast. “Okay, so these are legitimate and it’s clear that the parents wanted you to raise him if they were unable, which begs the question…why didn’t you?” 

“I was in prison,” Sirius said bluntly before explaining. “I was framed for mass murder by another of our so-called friends and certain people wanted me out of the way so they could do what they wanted with Harry, so I was thrown directly into jail without a trial or even being questioned. It wasn’t until they needed me that they pulled me out and gave me a trial.”

Everyone around the table looked at each other in confusion, realizing they were missing a big piece of the puzzle here, but letting Ric run the show for now. He had one more question before they got to that. “And what about you, Mr. Lupin. Where were you when your pseudo-godson needed you?” 

“I tried,” Remus said with a sad sigh. “I have a…condition. The laws say that I can’t have custody of children…”

“What?” Kai interrupted in surprise. “Just because you’re a werewolf?!” 

Remus sucked in a sharp breath and looked around the table in fear before it faded to confusion as no one seemed to react to that bombshell. Sirius who had moved as though to shield him was just as confused. “You don’t…care that I’m a werewolf?” Remus managed to ask in shock. 

“Not hardly,” Damon snorted. “We have over a hundred werewolf students. What’s one more mutt?” 

“You have werewolves at the school? What about full moons?” Sirius asked. 

“They spend the night of the full moon either in the dungeons or in the forest behind the barrier spells, whichever they prefer,” Emma explained. 

“And we always have a good stock of the cure for their venom just in case they run across one of the vampire kids on accident,” Jo added. 

“You have vampires here too?” Sirius asked wide-eyed and worriedly. 

“Yes, we do,” Bonnie said firmly. “We don’t believe in discriminating. Any and all supernatural children will have a place here, regardless of their origins.”

“Not that there isn’t some friction between the three main factions of witches, vampires, and wolves, but everyone here is committed to creating a world where we can co-exist peacefully without the hatred and violence that plagued past generations,” Elena explained. 

“I couldn’t have said it better myself,” Ric nodded. 

“We got a bit off track though. You were saying that the laws didn’t allow you to raise a child. You could have at least checked up on him from time to time. Hell, you could have even threatened those monsters to treat him better. Or better yet, reported them for their treatment of him,” Kai brought the conversation back around. 

“I tried,” Remus said again. “He was hidden by wards. I had no idea where he was and any magical method to find him failed because of those wards. I looked for him for years.” 

Ric sighed. That just made his decision so much harder. “I recognize your rights to him, but at the same time, he is legally a ward of the school now. His well-being is our responsibility, and I don’t know that uprooting him again now that he’s settled and happy is the best thing for him.” 

“It definitely wouldn’t be,” Emma jumped in. As the school counselor with a degree in child psychology, this was her bailiwick. “He’s been abused physically, mentally, and emotionally for as long as he can remember. He was trained to think of himself as worthless and a burden. If we send him away now, when he’s finally been allowed to make friends and is starting to feel like he belongs, we would just be reinforcing that. He’ll feel like we’re throwing him away because we don’t want him anymore.”

“The last thing either of us want is to cause him any more pain,” Sirius assured them. “If we can be assured that he’s well taken care of here, then I’m sure we could work something out.”

“Maybe over the course of the summer we could visit him, give him a chance to get to know us and get comfortable with us and then whenever he’s comfortable with it, hopefully Christmas break, he could spend the school breaks with us. We could get a home nearby so we’ll be easily accessible. I would appreciate if I could use your facilities for the full moon, but if not, we can figure something out on our own…” Remus suggested. 

Ric looked around the table for any discussion and they all seemed to be thinking it over. “They’re clearly thinking of what is in young Harry’s best interests,” Dorian pointed out. 

“And they were the guardians his parents chose for him before the right was stolen from them,” Elena added. 

“Emma? How do you think that arrangement would affect Harry?” Ric asked her. 

“I think that as long as we make it clear that he doesn’t have to go anywhere unless he wants to, having people in his life who think of him as family could be helpful. And people who could tell him about his parents,” she told him. 

“Speaking of…do you know when his birthday is? He didn’t know and I’d like to put it in his records if I could,” Jo asked. 

“They didn’t even tell him his own birthday?” Sirius choked as tears filled his eyes. 

“No. We did celebrate it last week with my son’s. They are best friends and since we didn’t know his, they decided that they could be twins,” Damon chuckled. “But if anyone deserves two birthdays this year it’s him.”

“It’s July thirty first,” Remus told them. 

“Twenty twenty,” Sirius added just in case.

“Thank you,” Jo nodded, making a note of it.


	8. Chapter 8

“Back to the original question, unless anyone has any objections, I see no reason to deny their request to visit him,” Ric looked around the table again. 

“I would like to give them a medical checkup first, if you both wouldn’t mind. His immune system is still recovering from his malnourishment and neither of you look particularly healthy…no offence,” Jo told them. 

“A medical checkup would probably be a good thing for both of us,” Remus agreed with a smile. “Sirius is probably malnourished pretty badly too. I’m not sure how much you all know about the magical prison in the UK…”

When everyone looked at Kai he chuckled. “I don’t know much. I know that the prison guards are beings called dementors that have a dangerous affect on the soul when it is in close proximity, but that’s about all.” 

“They suck away all warmth and happiness,” Sirius said in a haunted voice. “Most die of exposure or lose their minds within a year or two, but I just held onto the thought that I was innocent. It wasn’t a happy thought so they couldn’t take it away, but it kept me grounded. That and my animagus form.”

“They don’t feed the prisoners much at all either,” Remus added, since that’s where the conversation started. “Not that the prisoners have much of an appetite if they did.”

“And I’m guessing no medical care either,” Jo sighed sadly, feeling horrible for the man in front of her as he visibly shook off what seemed like a flashback. Emma wanted to offer him the benefit of counseling, but knew that she would need to talk to Ric first. Unlike a medical exam, that would be an ongoing commitment and something that could interfere with her duties here at the school. If nothing else, she would get him a referral. There were a few other therapists she knew that had knowledge of the supernatural and would likely be glad to help. Even if it was pro-bono. 

“Naturally, at least at first, the visits will be supervised by a member of the staff here,” Ric added. He’d been waffling on that, but seeing the mental trauma that the men were dealing with, he wasn’t going to chance it.

“That’s completely understandable,” Remus nodded. It made him feel a lot better that they were taking their responsibility for Harry’s well-being so seriously. 

“So now that all that’s settled…what the hell is going on over there? Why does everyone seem to be after him for something?” Damon asked impatiently. 

“It’s all because of a stupid prophecy,” Sirius huffed. 

“A prophecy? About him?” Bonnie asked curiously. 

“Yeah. It says that he’s the only one who can defeat one of the worst dark lords in history that was terrorizing the country. He supposedly banished him when he was a baby the night his parents were killed, but those in the know say that he’s coming back and only Harry can defeat him for good,” Remus explained.

“That doesn’t sound very reasonable,” Ric said confused. “Prophecies are, by their very nature, vague. Trying to predict them is more likely to create a self-fulfilling prophecy than anything else.”

“What’s the wording of the prophecy?” Kai asked. 

“The one with the power to vanquish the dark lord approaches. Born to those who have thrice defied him. Born as the seventh month dies. And the dark lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the dark lord knows not and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives,” Sirius told them. “Those words have been seared into my brain since the day James told me. I’ll never forget them.”

“Okay that sounds like a total load of crap,” Dorian couldn’t help but say. 

“What do you mean? It seems pretty clear to me,” Remus pointed out. 

“Only because you’re making it fit,” Dorian told them. He’d read more than a little about prophecy over the years he’d been here and was as close to an expert as they had on the subject. “Let’s start with the dark lord part. Where does it say what dark lord? Some prophecies are given hundreds of years before they come true. Why would it mean this particular dark lord? Then you have the word approaches. That doesn’t necessarily mean born. It could mean that he’s travelling there.”

“But it does say born as the seventh month dies,” Sirius pointed out, trying not to show how much his world had already been knocked on it’s axis. 

“Yes, it does, but there’s nothing to say that it’s connected with the approaching part, but let’s move on to that. Which seventh month? There have been more than a dozen calendars used in history with all different seventh months. Then there’s September. Sept is latin for seven and ember is a dying fire, completely irrelevant of any calendar.”

“And the parents that have thrice defied him thing…it could be anything,” Elena got in on the game. “Defied is a very broad word. It could even mean something as simple as he asked them to pass the sugar and they said no.”

“But that’s…” Remus stammered, unable to wrap his mind around all that. 

“No, we aren’t going to play into this ridiculous prophecy,” Ric shook his head at how easily it was taken apart. “Maybe it is about Harry and this dark lord, maybe it’s not, but the best thing we can do is teach him the best we can and give him a good well rounded life so that if it does happen to come to pass, he has every opportunity possible to beat it.”

“Maybe the power he knows not is this here,” Remus considered after a moment.

“What here?” Sirius asked confused. 

“This way of life. The acceptance. The unity. V-voldemort…he knows nothing of those things. He doesn’t work with anyone. He just crushes them all under his heel,” Remus explained. 

“I like that idea. And I have to agree with you, Dr. Saltzman. The best thing we can do is give him the best life we can.” 

Kai had different ideas about the power he knew not, assuming of course that the prophecy was about Harry, which was a pretty big assumption. He wasn’t going to air those ideas here and now though. There were more important things. “Moving on…what did you mean when you said they needed you to get to Harry?” That was something of a concern too and while the others were picking apart the prophecy, he was turning the conversation over in his head looking for anything important they might have missed. 

“That’s kind of a long story,” Sirius told them, not wanting to take up too much more of their time. 

“I think, given the circumstances, we all need to make time for it,” Damon said firmly. He was more than a little protective of his son’s best friend, and if this was some kind of ploy, he’d rather know sooner rather than later. 

“Well it started, I’m guessing, after Professor Dumbledore’s meeting with you,” Sirius began the story. “He went to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to get them to force Harry back. That’s when Madam Bones…the head of the department…learned that he wasn’t recognized by magic as Harry’s magical guardian.”

“Which he should have been since the wizengamot declared him as such in the absence of his godparents,” Remus clarified. 

“Granted the minister tried to roll right over the department and order it done anyway,” Remus said. 

“But Madam Bones pointed out that it would be tantamount to invading a foreign country and without the legal magical guardian on file requesting it, it would get them all in trouble with the International Confederation of Wizards, regardless of the fact that Dumbledore was the Supreme Mugwump,” Sirius took over. 

“That led to the wills that you just read getting unsealed to see who held the position,” Remus continued. 

“Why were the wills sealed in the first place when they would have said who their baby was supposed to live with?” Bonnie asked confused. 

“That’s one of the questions that Dumbledore was facing when we left,” Sirius told them. “He’s the one that sealed the wills in his authority as chief warlock.” 

“So the wills get unsealed and it’s learned that you’re the magical guardian,” Ric tried to bring the story back around. 

“More than that was learned from the unsealing,” Remus explained. “First of all, if Sirius had been convicted of a crime, magic would have taken the position away from him, but he was the only one named that could have possibly taken him since everyone else on the list was dead or worse.”

“That led to them trying to dig up information on the trial I never got, and realizing that I never got a trial. Their intention was to drag me in, drug me up on truth serum, get a quick confession and conviction and then they could assign the magical guardianship however they wanted.”

“Obviously it didn’t work out that way,” Emma chuckled. 

“Nope. I took the truth drug, proved my innocence and was set free. With quite a bit of money in compensation for the false imprisonment, not that I care about that. I walk out of the courtroom, headed to file for custody of my godson, and there Dumbledore is telling me that he’s been taken to some school in America and I have to go get him back and take him back to his aunt and uncle. In return, he would allow Harry to visit me for two weeks every summer.”

“Sirius told him where to shove it, got the information about the school and we came straight here,” Remus finished.

“That is…unbelievable. To think that one man could do so much damage…and still think he’s so morally superior to everyone else,” Ric said disgustedly. 

“Since we’ve answered all your questions, can I ask one?” Sirius asked hopefully. When he got a nod from Ric he turned to Jo, knowing that she was the doctor here. “What all did those monsters do to my godson?” 

She gave him the rundown of his diagnosis as well as the progress he had made in the time since he’d been at the school and there were tears shining in both men’s eyes. “We can’t even begin to thank you all enough,” Remus managed to say. 

“What he said,” Sirius added. “Let me know how much his supplies and everything costed and the cost of tuition.”

“We do have a scholarship program for children who can’t afford to pay. We will never turn anyone away if we can help it,” Ric told them, not wanting the man to blow through all of his reparation money if he couldn’t afford it. 

Sirius barked a laugh. “Don’t worry. The Blacks are one of the richest families in Britain. And the Potter’s are even richer.” He had every intention of making a nice fat donation to the school too if it turned out to be as great as it seemed, but he would wait to mention that until he could check things out for himself. 

“Well in that case, I’ll have the receipts sent to you as well as the bill for the standard tuition,” Ric nodded gratefully. 

“Or we could hire them to teach,” Dorian suggested, having been mulling it over for a bit. When everyone looked at him funny, he shrugged. “What? We need more supernaturals on staff and Damon in particular has been complaining about not having any werewolves on staff to take them off his hands.” 

“He has a point,” Ric said thoughtfully. 

“Yeah, but not that wolf,” Damon scoffed. “Our wolves would eat him alive inside an hour.”

“Damon has a point,” Elena admitted. “And as many times as the wolves have been promised that as soon as they had representation on staff he would be in charge of them, we can’t go back on that now.”

“Hey, Moony here is tougher than he looks,” Sirius defended his friend. 

“I think we need to get the medical exams done before we start getting into more complicated subjects,” Jo chimed in. 

“Agreed. And that’ll give us all time to think this idea over. We’ll meet back here tomorrow after lunch?” Ric suggested and everyone agreed.


	9. Chapter 9

Sirius and Remus followed Jo to the infirmary, taking the opportunity to look around as they walked and realizing with surprise, “You have a lot of students that stay during the summer?” Hogwarts never allowed students to stay during the summer, no matter the reason. 

“Only about forty or so,” Jo told them. “A lot of our kids aren’t welcome back home for being what they are or are orphans. Most of them have friends whose family takes them in for the summer or on breaks, but not all of them. Then there are the kids of the year-round staff.”

“I would think that those with kids would go home in the summer if they had the option,” Remus said thoughtfully. 

“Most do. Since Ric and I run the school we have to stay so this is the only home our kids know. Then there are Damon and Elena Salvatore,” she emphasized the last name. 

“So the Salvatore School is their home,” Sirius figured out. 

“Yeah. And Kai and Bonnie Bennett have lived here for decades too, well before the school,” Jo explained. “Their kids have never known any other home either. The rest of the staff with kids do leave for the summer, and usually take a few of our orphans home with them too.”

“I have to say, this seems like an amazing school all the way around. The way you all seem to care so much about all the students…well I wish my school had been that way,” Sirius said wistfully. 

They got to the infirmary and Jo motioned Sirius up on the table first and started taking his vitals as the witch assistant started casting diagnostic spells while she answered. “As far as we’re all concerned, that’s the only way to run a school. If you don’t care then you have no business being in charge of kids and that’s one of the first things we look for in staff too. No one who looks down on any of these kids will ever have a place here.” 

“Well I can’t say as either of us have ever met any vampires, so we wouldn’t know how to handle them, but we would never look down on them for being what they are,” Remus assured her, just in case the jobs ended up being on the table. 

“Actually, you have met two vampires now,” Jo laughed. 

“We have?” Sirius asked, pulling his gaze away from the strange way the witch was doing magic without a wand or anything. 

“Damon and Elena are both vampires,” Jo pointed out. 

“Oh. And the rest of you are witches and wizards I’m guessing, or were there others…” Remus asked curiously. 

“Actually, Ric and I, as well as Dorian, are all human. Technically, I was born as a witch, but gave up my magic decades ago which is how both of my daughters are witches. Ric was a vampire for a few months before a freak accident turned him human again. Dorian has always been human. Emma, Bonnie, and Kai are all witches. We don’t differentiate between the sexes like you apparently do so both men and women are called witches.” 

“Well would you look at that Moony? After all that teasing in school it looks like we really are witches now,” Sirius laughed. 

Remus rolled his eyes and huffed a laugh as Jo chuckled. “That’s you done. Do you want to wait and get both results together or hear it now?” 

“Together,” Sirius told her, hopping off the table and letting Remus take his turn. “So if the Salvatores are vampires then their kids…” he trailed off curiously. 

“Are vampires too. There was an old Incan tribe in south America that worshipped a pair of vampires back in the day. Almost ten years ago, they ran across the ruins talking about an elixir that the witches created to allow them to procreate and managed to track it down, but since most of the ingredients are extinct now and there were only two doses, they’re the only vampires who will ever be able to have children.”

“They said that their son is Harry’s best friend…is that safe?” Sirius asked the question he was really wondering about. He hadn’t even known that vampires couldn’t have kids in the first place, so that story was pointless for him. 

“It’s perfectly safe. All of the vampires in the school only drink from blood bags except for the seniors who go on supervised trips into the city to learn how to feed from people without killing them,” Jo forced herself to remember that these men had never known any vampires so the question was reasonable. “Not to mention, since the Salvatore kids were born vampires, they don’t have any of the problems with control that the turned vampires do. Probably because they don’t have to deal with the difficult adjustment to their lives.” 

“That makes sense,” Remus nodded. “And he meant no offense by the question.”

“I know. But I’m glad you asked that here to me instead of in front of Damon. Like most vampires he’s a bit of a hothead,” she chuckled. 

“So vampires are hotheads?” Sirius asked curiously, wanting to get more information about them in general. 

“Not as bad as werewolves, but they’re pretty bad,” she laughed. “Why don’t I get you two copies of our school textbooks for the introduction to vampirism class…might as well throw in the intro to lycanthropy too, just in case there’s information you didn’t know.” 

“That would be great. Thank you. Whether we end up teaching here or not, we want to be able to understand Harry’s friends,” Remus said gratefully. 

“You’re welcome,” Jo said with a smile as she finished up with Remus. “Okay, now I’m going to want to keep Mr. Black here overnight. He is definitely malnourished and has a few minor infections, likely due to the poor conditions in the prison. We can start on a nutrient potion immediately and a basic course of antibiotics should wipe out the infections. Mr. Lupin, I show a lot of poorly healed injuries and many of your scars have curse residue. I can get my brother, Kai, down here to pull the magic from them if you’d like to have them healed. You’re underweight and could do with a few good meals, but it’s not to a level that we need to treat.”

Remus hadn’t heard anything past healing his scars. “He can do that? Heal the scars?” he asked in awe. 

“Well he can pull the magic from them which would allow Dr Harris here to heal them, but yes. They can be healed. Would you like me to arrange that?” 

“Yes. Please,” Remus said quickly. 

Jo nodded with a smile and went to grab the phone from the wall and call Kai down. “In the meantime, we can get you both set up for the night in the infirmary. I’m assuming you want to stay with Mr. Black?” 

They both nodded so she led them from the exam room to the infirmary and set them up with beds next to each other. Once they were settled, Dr. Harris handed Sirius a potion while Jo set an IV into his arm, reassuring him all the while. He’d never had any kind of treatment like that so he was more than a little nervous. By the time that was done, Kai was walking in. “Since you’re a wolf, I can’t pull all the magic from you without killing you, which means I’m going to have to do each scar individually,” he explained as he closed the curtains around the bed with just himself and Dr. Harris with the werewolf. 

As a werewolf, Remus had lost any modesty he had years ago. If monthly visits to the hospital wing in school weren’t enough, the fact that once a month he wakes up naked after the full moon would have done it. As such, he had no problem stripping down to his underwear so that they could access all of the scars. It took nearly an hour to get them all as Kai went through and dragged a finger over each one and Dr. Harris healed them behind him. 

Once they were done and Remus was dressed again, Kai told him, “You’re aware that you and your wolf are not working in harmony correct?” He had been hesitant to bring it up in front of the full group.

“I…um…huh?” Remus stammered confusedly. 

”It seems like you’ve been fighting to suppress your wolf for a long time, yes?” Kai tried to explain. 

“Well…yeah. Of course. I don’t want to become a rabid beast all month long like Greyback,” Remus said as though it should be obvious. 

It was Kai’s turn to be confused. “I don’t know who this Greyback is, but from what you said, it seems like he’s let his wolf take over completely. Two extremes. What you need to do is find the balance. That’s what we teach the kids here. You and your wolf can work together much better than either of you can work separately. It will make your monthly transformations much less violent as well. Judging by the scars, your wolf is taking it’s frustration out on you when it can.” 

“I…didn’t even know that was possible,” Remus said thoughtfully. 

“It sounds like wolves have it rough where you’re from based on the little bit you’ve let slip. It’s not surprising that you’re struggling. When you fear your wolf and suppress it, it weakens you both,” Kai told him. 

“Here you go,” Jo jumped in. “The books I promised. They should help with that too.”

Remus nodded and quickly dove into the Introduction to Lycanthropy book while Sirius was already reading the Introduction to Vampirism. Just the first page in and he was already astounded at the information he learned. No one in Britain knew, or would admit to knowing, where Lycanthropy came from, but right here in the introduction it told them how it was created by a witch, when, and why. It blew his mind right from the start. Not long after they started the books, dinner arrived and they both ate like they were starving without even putting the books down.


	10. Chapter 10

While Sirius and Remus were getting settled in the infirmary, Emma was going with Damon and Elena to talk to Harry. Due to Damien and Harry’s friendship, Damon and Elena were the closest Harry had to parental figures, with Harry even having weekly sleepovers in Damien’s room. Emma, as the head of the lower school and Harry’s primary teacher, as well as the school therapist, was naturally going with them to help. They all felt that surprising him with all this would be a bad thing. He needed some kind of preparation in advance. 

Emma went to get Harry and brought him into her office where Damon and Elena were waiting. “A-am I in trouble?” Harry asked timidly when he came in. 

“No, kiddo. Not at all,” Damon was quick to reassure him. 

“We just have something we want to talk to you about,” Elena added as the two vampires sat on either side of the boy on the couch. 

“We had a visit today from a couple men from your home country,” Emma started gently. 

“Are you sending me away?” Harry asked fearfully. He didn’t see any other reason to mention that they were from his home and bring him in here to talk to him about it. 

“Over my dead body,” Damon growled lowly. Harry relaxed a great deal at that and leaned lightly against Damon, seeing him as his protector and shield. 

“No, sweetie. You will never have to leave here unless you want to,” Emma promised. 

“Then what…” Harry asked confused. 

“You belong here now, and no one can change that,” Elena tried. “These men just want to meet you and get to know you. They are your godfathers. You parents wanted them to take you in if something happened to them.”

“Then why didn’t they?” Harry asked hurt. 

“Because they couldn’t,” Damon told him. “They wanted to, but apparently over there, werewolves are banned from being around children and the other one was sent to prison for something he didn’t do. Now that they know he’s innocent, this is the first place they came. To find you.”

“But they won’t try to make me go with them?” 

“No, Harry. They won’t,” Emma assured him. “When we talked about it, as soon as we let them know that you were happy and safe here, they promised that they wouldn’t make you leave. They want you to stay happy and safe. But they would still like to see you, if you’ll let them.”

“I get to decide?” Harry asked almost confused, but hopeful. No one ever let him decide anything important like this before. 

“Absolutely,” Elena told him. “If you don’t want to meet them, or need some time to think about it first, we’ll tell them that.” 

“Are they…here now?” Harry asked, wondering if they were waiting outside for his decision or something. 

“They’re in the infirmary right now,” Emma explained. “They didn’t stop to see a doctor before coming here to find you, so they need a little help.” She had just gotten the text from Jo that they would be staying at least overnight. 

Harry considered it for a long moment and the three adults let him think it through. They had wanted to take him when he was a baby. His parents had wanted them to take him. They had come straight here as soon as they were able to. They would let him stay. They just wanted him to be happy. It would be nice to meet people who could tell him about his parents. As long as he didn’t have to leave. He looked up at Damon. “Can you and Damien come with me to meet them?” he asked. He knew that Damon wouldn’t let anyone hurt him or take him away and Damien was his best friend. They did everything together. 

“If you want, then absolutely,” Damon promised. 

Harry nodded and came to a decision. “Maybe after breakfast in the morning we could go see them in the infirmary?” 

“Then that’s what we’ll do,” Damon agreed. 

Since it was about the time they usually picked the kids up for the day, Elena asked, “Would you like to sleepover with Damien tonight?” Harry grinned and nodded profusely. “If that’s okay with Ms. Emma, of course.”

“I’ll let the other teachers and floor monitors know,” she said with a smile. It would be good for him to feel more accepted into a family right now rather than just another student at the school. 

That decided, they went and packed Harry’s overnight bag and took all the kids home around the same time Bonnie showed up to pick up Carrie and Ser, learning that Kai was helping out in the infirmary. Once they were back in their apartment, the girls went to play while Damon and Elena sat the boys down and told them more about Sirius and Remus. The little they knew anyway, leaving out all mention of politics and prophecy and the attempts by their government to control Harry. The next morning, they had a quiet breakfast in the apartment rather than joining the dining hall before Elena took the girls to play at the lower school and Damon took the boys to the infirmary in the main house. 

By the time breakfast was finished, Sirius and Remus had both finished the introductory books they were given, having traded after their first read. The books were written for eleven year olds, so they weren’t difficult to grasp. Thus, they both had a much better understanding of vampires by the time Damon brought the boys in. Not that either of them had eyes for anyone but Harry at first. 

When Harry found himself the recipient of such intense attention, he shrank away a bit and tightened his hold on Damon’s hand. “It’s okay, kiddo,” Damon said encouragingly. “This is Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. Your godfathers.” When none of them seemed to have found words yet, Damon resisted the urge to roll his eyes and took the opportunity to say. “And this is my son Damien. Harry asked him to come for moral support.”

“Of course,” Remus was the first to speak. “We’re always happy to meet your friends, cub.” 

“Cub?” Harry asked curiously, tilting his head at them. 

Sirius barked a laugh. “He’s a wolf so he always called you cub. I’m a dog animagus so I always called you pup.”

“Like…like I was yours?” Harry asked, tears welling up in his eyes. 

“Pup, as far as we’re concerned, you’ve always been our family and always will be,” Sirius said earnestly. 

“I-I think I’d like to have my own family,” Harry said in a small voice. “But I don’t want to leave here,” he added. 

“Then you won’t have to,” Sirius promised. “We’ll come here to visit you. We’ll stay as close as we can.” He and Remus had discussed the option of teaching here, and they both agreed that if it was offered, they would accept to be close to Harry. Not that Sirius was completely comfortable with the idea of teaching and thus being an authority figure, but he would manage. He’d lost too much time with his godson already. He wasn’t going to lose any more if he could help it. 

Harry smiled shyly at them and they all seemed at a loss for words again, so Damon prompted, “Maybe you could tell him a little about his parents?” Harry’s face lit up like a Christmas tree and even Damien seemed interested, so that opened the flood gates and the rest of the morning was spent with both boys in stitches at the antics of Harry’s parents and godfathers. 

Damon was more than a little amused too and found himself laughing out loud at some points. Both Brits were great storytellers, that was for sure. If not for the fact that Remus was such a weak wolf he would have nothing against them coming to teach here. They were interrupted by the lunch trays arriving and Jo had taken the liberty to have some brought up for Harry and Damien. She had been around him enough to have learned the few things that Damien liked to eat and didn’t want to assume that he wouldn’t want food. 

Once they were done eating, Jo offered to take the boys back down to the lower school so Sirius, Remus, and Damon could head to Ric’s office where they would be meeting Kai as well. They had decided that they didn’t need then entire senior staff for this meeting, and most of them had weighed in their opinions in advance anyway. Damon would be there representing the wolves due to Remus and Kai representing the witches since he knew more about where they were coming from than Bonnie did. Plus Bonnie was overseeing a few practical summer projects and was meeting with the students this afternoon. The projects Kai was overseeing were more in the form of papers that he could look over when he had time.


	11. Chapter 11

When Damon got to Ric’s office with the two men, Kai was already waiting for them there. Damon went to sit next to Kai on one couch while Sirius and Remus sat on the other and Ric turned one of the chairs in front of his desk around to face them. “Okay, so we’re here to discuss first of all, whether the two of you can fit on the staff. If not, then how we’re going to work out your visitation with your godson,” Ric started things off. 

“Can I ask first...” Remus started turning to Damon when no one stopped him. “You represent the werewolf students right now? How does that work? From what I read vampires and werewolves have been enemies since the beginning, which is understandable I suppose seeing where vampires originated and the fact that werewolf venom is poison to them, but doesn’t it cause problems?” 

“Oh it definitely causes problems and it’s not easy, which is why we’ve all been looking for a werewolf to join the staff and take over as pack alpha. Without that though, I’m the best one…the only one, really that can handle them. Like vampires, werewolves are a predatory species. They are also a physically aggressive species and only vampires can go toe to toe with them in a physical fight. My handling of them is more based on intimidation than loyalty and only possible since I’m so old.”

“Because vampires get stronger and faster as they age,” Sirius nodded in understanding. “How old are you?” 

“I’m almost a hundred and ninety years old, relatively young for a vampire, but old enough to keep the newly turned adolescent wolves in line,” Damon told them. 

“I think it’s your reputation as much as anything else that helps too,” Ric chuckled. 

“Reputation?” Remus asked curiously. 

“Damon is, what the kids call an ‘old world’ vampire. Plenty of death and destruction left in his wake and some of his battles have passed into something like legend around here,” Ric said amusedly. 

“You kill people?” Remus asked worriedly and with more than a little bit of judgement. 

“Only when it’s necessary these days, but I wasn’t always so discriminating,” Damon shrugged, not ashamed of his past at all. Not in general anyway. There would always be individual events that haunted him. “Remember, we’re predators by nature. We can’t change what we are. We can just learn to channel it.”

“Which is why Damon is the best teacher these kids could have. He’s been there. He knows the struggle, and he knows how to get it back under control,” Kai jumped in. 

“One of the hardest things for me, as a human, to learn, was that the supernatural world isn’t black and white. Death is going to happen. Most of these kids here are likely going to end up killing people at some point in their lives. Sometimes by accident, sometimes just losing control of their temper or their bloodlust, or maybe even on purpose. Our job as their teachers, is to make sure that they have the best tools they can to minimize that,” Ric told them. 

“We teach them how to coexist with each other and with humans. We teach them to channel that rage, control the bloodlust, and most importantly, come back from it when they slip up,” Kai took over. 

“Guilt spirals are probably the most dangerous thing these kids will ever face,” Damon continued. “I can tell you from experience that if you let the guilt crush you, you will lose control more and more until you find yourself little more than a monster. The supernatural world is not a nice place. It’s not an easy life. Outside these walls, witches, vampires, and werewolves have been in varying stages of war for more than a thousand years. Not to mention humans that want to kill all of us.”

“So…you teach the kids to kill?” Sirius asked appalled.

“Not at all,” Ric shook his head. “These kids already know how to kill. It’s their instincts to do so. We teach them moderation. Temperament. How to /not/ kill unless they /have/ to. How to respond to situations with something other than violence.” 

Remus didn’t look convinced, but Sirius just nodded after a moment of thought and explained their reactions. “You have to understand that where we come from things are a lot more black and white. Somewhat at least. Those who kill others are considered evil unless it’s a true matter of life and death. Even then we are supposed to subdue if at all possible. But if you look beyond the surface, there is so much corruption going on that the killers are just released again to come back at us if they are from the right family or have enough money and then more people die, so I get the killing when necessary thing, and you guys don’t have an actual government or anything here so you all have to look out for yourselves.”

That got Remus thinking too and he realized that they were right. “That’s a good point. Having a government can be both good and bad, and honestly I’m surprised that your society functions without one, but I can see that you make it work. We really have no right to judge your culture without a much greater understanding of it,” he decided. “Are you looking to create a government here? Is that what this whole unity thing with the school is about?” 

“Absolutely not,” Damon shook his head profusely. 

“Like you, we can see both good and bad points to it in theory, but in practice, a supernatural government could never work,” Kai explained. 

“It worked for us,” Sirius pointed out. 

“No it doesn’t,” Damon scoffed. “You said yourself there is so much corruption. Not to mention the fact that werewolves are apparently treated like second class citizens and I don’t even want to know what life is like for vampires over there. You have a government for witches that subjugates every other supernatural.”

“He’s got a point,” Remus admitted. 

“A truly united government would never work. With government comes laws and regulations and restrictions. Laws for one species could never work for any others and each faction would be consumed with trying to get an upper hand,” Kai explained. 

“The only way it could begin to work is to have separate governments for each species and then trying to get them work together in an integrated society would be even more impossible,” Ric added. 

“Right. So no government,” Sirius agreed. He’d never thought of the wizarding government that way, but one only had to look at the treatment of werewolves, goblins, house elves, and every other sentient species to know that they were right. The system here might be messy and disorganized, but there wasn’t really any other way to do it when dealing with so many different species.

“Getting back on track, my biggest concern with the two of you coming to teach here is what you could teach. You don’t even use the same kind of magic that we do,” Kai brought the conversation back around. 

“They use a different kind of magic?” Ric asked curiously. He hadn’t really had time to get an update on Kai’s research into that after the Dumbledore guy’s visit. 

Both Sirius and Remus looked just as curious so Kai settled in to explain. “Pardon my teacher side coming out for a moment, but a little history is necessary to explain,” he chuckled. “See almost two thousand years ago, Europe was ruled by Goblins, Elves, and Fairies. All of whom used nature magic rather than the spirit magic inherent in witches. Witches in their society were treated much like werewolves are in yours and since the ruling races couldn’t control the spirit magic, they outlawed it and taught the witches to twist nature magic to work for them. This required the use of magical foci such as wands.”

“That’s what that stick the old man had was?” Damon asked. 

“Exactly. Because nature magic isn’t natural for witches, they have to manipulate the magic through beings capable of it. For example, you have wands yes?” Kai asked Sirius and Remus. When they nodded he asked, “What are they made of?”

“Mine is ebony wood with a dragon heartstring core,” Sirius told them, getting looks from the Americans much like he’d given them at the idea of killing people.

“So you use the heart of a dead dragon to cast your magic?” Damon asked distastefully. 

Sirius shrugged helplessly, so Remus jumped in with his own answer to the question. “Mine is cypress with a unicorn hair core.”

“At least a unicorn can survive without it’s hair, but to manipulate such a pure creature…” Damon started before he was interrupted by Kai. 

“It’s not our place to judge their culture any more than it’s their place to judge ours, Damon,” he pointed out. “I asked to have an example. See Goblins, Elves, and Fairies don’t need wands to use nature magic. It’s a part of them just like spirit magic is a part of us. They only way that the witches could use that magic is by channeling through beings that were part of nature magic. This twisted magic was also much weaker than their own natural magics. By making the witches dependent on such foci, it made them easier to control and over time they forgot that there ever was a different kind of magic.”

“That explains why children stop having accidental magic outbursts once they start formally learning magic,” Remus considered thoughtfully, trying to make this new information fit his worldview. 

“I would imagine that they would be forcing their spirit magic into an unrecognizable shape which would limit their instinctual access to it. Much like telling someone that something is impossible makes them not able to do it. Mind over matter as it were,” Ric guessed. 

“That makes a lot of sense,” Sirius nodded. 

“Yes, so by the time the witches rose up they never knew they could do any other kind of magic. The fairies were banished back to their home dimension, the elves were cursed into servitude, and the goblins…I’m not sure what happened to them,” Kai finished the story. 

“They’re basically second class citizens like werewolves,” Sirius told them. “They run the wizarding banks and aren’t allowed into society beyond that.” 

Ric was considering things with this new information. “Perhaps they could teach the basics of nature magic to our few non-spirit magic students?”

Kai shook his head. “The version they use is twisted and unnatural. Our students use the pure form of the magic.”


	12. Chapter 12

“Well we did learn some subjects that don’t use wanded magic,” Sirius interjected. His reasoning was as much from a desire to learn this spirit magic by staying here as to stay close to Harry at this point. 

“Like what?” Damon asked. 

“Herbology, potions, runes, arithmancy, and astronomy,” Remus told them. He wasn’t counting history since it was obviously useless, or muggle studies. Even care of magical creatures used some magic to help subdue the animals.

“Herbology is taught in the lower school and potions is a part of our chemistry courses,” Ric told them. 

“Arithmancy would be pointless since it’s all about how to twist the nature magic into unintended shapes so that they can use it with their foci,” Kai chimed in. 

“Runes would be very useful though,” Damon pointed out. “The closest we have to an expert there is Elena, and while she can read them well enough, using them for magic isn’t something any of us have ever studied.”

“Rune magic is a pretty complicated subject and I could see offering that for all seven years of the upper school,” Kai agreed. “Even the vampires and wolves could get some use out of them.”

“And you both know runes well enough to teach it?” Ric asked hopefully. He didn’t know much about it himself, but if Damon and Kai both thought it was useful then he would be a fool to dismiss it.

“I could teach the younger years,” Sirius told them. “But Remus is the real expert in the subject and he’d have to take the later material.”

Since that was settled, Damon brought back up his objection from before. “That still doesn’t resolve the issue of Remus not being able to handle our wolves.”

“That is definitely a concern,” Ric sighed. Even he could see that Remus would be eaten alive. 

“I read the Introduction to Lycanthropy book last night,” Remus told them. “I learned a lot about the condition and how to manage it. I think I could be okay.” 

Damon chuckled and shook his head. “I’ll tell you what. If Kai over there can cloak us, we can head over to the wolf gym. I’m sure some of them are playing something today and we can observe for a little while.” 

“Sure. I can do that,” Kai said amusedly. It would be rather fun to see their faces when they realized the true extent of the abilities when a wolf is in harmony. 

“I’ll leave you to it then and we can meet again tomorrow, same time, to revisit the issue and perhaps find a solution once everyone fully understands the scope,” Ric nodded. 

Kai gathered Damon, Sirius, and Remus in a group and cast the cloaking spell over them. When Sirius realized that not only could no one see them, they could be heard or smelled or anything else either, he was impressed. “Nice. Can you teach me how to do that?” 

“Not that, no,” Kai shook his head. “See there are certain magics that only flow through bloodlines. Only the Gemini coven is able to use the cloaking spell.”

“Oh,” Sirius pouted for a moment. “What other kind of bloodline magics are there?” he asked curiously as they headed out of the building towards the wolf dorms. 

“Well my wife’s family is the only bloodline that can create alternate dimensions. That’s actually how we got a lot of our knowledge. Those alternate dimensions are essentially frozen in time. No one else is there except the person or persons who have gone there. I was sent to what is known as a prison world back in nineteen ninety four. The Bennetts created the dimension and the Gemini sealed it away, cloaking it from any other beings. When a magical accident sent Damon, Elena, and Bonnie to that world many years later, we had access to the entire world, exactly as it was on that date and could explore to our heart’s content.”

“So you’ve been everywhere?” Remus asked curiously. 

“Pretty much,” Damon shrugged. “We copied every book, temple carving, cave drawing, ancient scroll, and so on we could find into a digital library of sorts that we brought back with us.”

“Did you find Hogwarts and Diagon Alley?” Sirius asked. 

“A big castle in Scotland set up as a school and a magically hidden shopping center in London? Yes,” Kai told them. “It took us a few months each to get all the books there copied, and we haven’t really read much from them until the last few weeks when I’ve been researching since we met Mr. Dumbledore. There’s just so much there to go through that it would take lifetimes to learn it all,” Kai told them. 

“I can’t even imagine,” Remus shook his head in awe. 

“That’s why Elena is a full-time archivist. She’s just getting everything in order and organized and even condensing a lot of it into easier to read books. It’ll probably take her at least a few hundred years to get caught up with it, if not longer,” Damon told them. 

“I can definitely see why you would give that job to a vampire,” Sirius chuckled. 

“Okay, here we are,” Damon said. “I would suggest staying at the edges. We’re not immaterial.”

Sirius and Remus looked more than a little curious as they walked in and both stopped in shock at the sight that met them. Kai reached out and grabbed Sirius’ arm, pulling them mostly behind Damon and Remus. “Getting hit with one of those balls would kill a witch or a human,” Kai explained. 

“How are they doing that?” Remus asked, seeing one of the students jump at the wall, launch himself off of it and end up in the rafters before swinging over and jumping back down without a hitch on the other side of the group just in time to intercept the ball and whip it back at someone else who took it to the stomach and slid across the floor before flipping back to his feet and whipping it back. 

“This is what a wolf in harmony with his animal side is capable of,” Damon told him. “Those balls they’re tossing around are solid steel with just a light layer of padding on the outside. They weigh about two hundred and fifty pounds.” 

“And this is a /game/?” Sirius asked realizing just how dangerous balls that heavy moving at those speeds could be, knowing now that Kai was right about it killing them if they got hit.

“There is a reason that this gym is wolves only,” Damon chuckled. “Granted vampires could play too, but unlike the pack oriented wolves, we’re not really team players. We’re more solitary by nature. Plus the fact that the tensions are still too high between the wolves and vampires for it to even be safe for them to compete like this.”

“Your new combined combat class should fix that part at least,” Kai pointed out. 

“We hope,” Damon nodded. He was even considering incorporating this dodgeball type game into the class. But not until they had a little bit of teamwork under their belts so that the wolves and vampires would protect the witches on their teams. “Come on. Let’s go see if anyone is using the public gym.” 

On the way Remus noticed one of the students climbing, if one could call it that being something of a cross between climbing and jumping, up the side of the building. “Are they allowed to do that?” he asked curiously pointing it out. 

“Sure they are. We try not to limit the kids beyond safety measures in their free time and since werewolves, like vampires, are plenty durable, there’s no reason for them not to. They like to hang out on the roof often,” Kai explained. 

“I obviously seriously underestimated how much working with my wolf would increase my strength, but how much have I underestimated the effect on my healing?” Remus asked. 

“That building is eight stories high. When a wolf falls, which does tend to happen since they get pretty rowdy in the best of times, they generally get the wind knocked out of them and get right back up. If they land wrong they might break a leg or something which takes a day or two to heal, but given that they have the agility and usually presence of mind to control how they land, that rarely happens,” Damon told him.


	13. Chapter 13

Kai steered them around a group of werewolves wresting outside on their way and noticed Remus looking worriedly between them and Damon. “Don’t worry. They’re just playing. Or jockeying for position in the pack. They’re family. They won’t hurt each other too badly.” 

“Family?” Sirius asked, seeing the disparity in looks and even nationalities between them. 

“All the wolves are family. They’re pack. It’s how they live. A cohesive unit. They’ll fight among them, but in the end they’re still family. The new wolves that arrive can sometimes cause some dust-ups while they adjust, but the instinctive longing for pack helps them to integrate soon enough,” Damon explained. “That’s why if we’re going to take a werewolf on staff, they have to be able to function on their level. He would have to take over as the alpha wolf and the wolves won’t follow a weak leader.”

“I understand,” Remus said dejectedly, realizing that they were right. He could never control these wolves at the level he would need to be able to. 

When the public gym was empty, Kai led Sirius and Remus back to the infirmary before dropping the cloaking spell. While they didn’t actually /need/ to be there any longer, Jo wouldn’t mind keeping them under observation for another day or two and until more was decided on their place there and where and if they would be staying, it made sense. 

The next day, during the meeting Ric made a suggestion. “What if we had Raph work with Remus for the remainder of the summer? Could he be up to par by the time the rest of the student return?” 

Both Kai and Damon shook their heads. “As badly and as long as his wolf has been suppressed it would take years to undo that damage and get him up to the same level as the rest of our wolves.”

“Not to mention changing the mindset. No offense, Remus, but you’re far too timid to take our wolves in hand,” Damon added.

“Working in harmony with his wolf should help the mindset pretty quickly,” Kai pointed out. “It’s the physical strength and agility that’ll be the hard part. Not to mention healing.”

Ric nodded thoughtfully. “Okay. So if we can get the mindset right, what if we leave Raph as the alpha, and just make Remus their faculty representative without taking over the pack. Damon could still back him up if things get out of hand, but that way the wolves have a wolf alpha that they will follow and a teacher other than a vampire to turn to.” 

Damon considered that for a long moment before shrugging. “I think it would satisfy our promise to them, but then we would just be in this position all over again once Raphael graduates. There is no guarantee that the new student alpha would be as easygoing as he is. Or if Raphael loses the alpha spot before he graduates even.” They could enforce their own alpha within reason for a teacher, but to elevate one student within the pack over the others by force would not go over well. 

“I was already planning to offer Raph a job once he graduates so that he could keep the pack, so I can still do that and then…if Remus is up to it by then…they can figure out between them who the alpha will be,” Ric told them. “We’ll just have to hope that he doesn’t lose the alpha spot to another student in the meantime.” 

“If need be I can step in more forcefully again, but if I have to take control over a wolf teacher, it will make them think that we intentionally hired a weak wolf so that I could keep control of them through him. In that situation I would almost definitely have to hurt some of them to make my point,” Damon pointed out. 

Ric sighed heavily and put his head in his hands for a moment before looking back up. “Just hurt?”

“You know that I will do anything in my power to not kill a student, but I can’t guarantee with any certainty that it won’t come to that if the wolves revolt.” 

“Okay, maybe I’m missing something here, but why can’t we just gather the wolves and tell them truth. Explain the situation…that we have a wolf that wants to teach here, but due to past mistreatment he’s not strong enough yet to be alpha. You can even, assuming Raph agrees, tell them that you’ll be hiring him once he graduates so that he can stay the alpha. It will cement his leadership now too and decrease the chances of other students trying to take the title from him,” Kai suggested. 

Ric winced and realized that he was doing it again. He’d already learned the hard way that keeping secrets from the students, even for their own good, caused more harm than help. “Damon?” he asked. “Do you think you could work with that?” 

Damon considered it for a moment before nodding. “I think so. I could even frame it as a matter of wolf pride. If Remus doesn’t mind it being known, we can explain that he came from a society that shunned and mistreated wolves and he’s still learning what it means to be a wolf and needs all of our help. It would elevate me in their eyes by being willing to provide that help and show that I and the rest of the staff here, have faith in them by bringing him to them for it.”

“It would prove that you’re not trying to subjugate the wolves by being upfront about trying to help /un/subjugate one,” Kai nodded. “The only question is whether you would be comfortable with that much being known about your past and your weaknesses,” he told Remus. 

“I can’t say that I’m exactly /comfortable/ with it, but what Damon said yesterday about the longing for pack…I can’t argue with. And any pack I could join would require the same help and this one will keep me close to Harry, so it’s the best option,” Remus agreed. 

“Okay. Then we’ll add runes to the schedules and hire you both on to teach it. Now is this a subject that you can get an acceptable amount of information across about in just a year or two or would it take much longer to be useful?” Ric asked. 

“It would take at least three years to get across enough information to make it worthwhile,” Sirius told them. 

“Okay, so we won’t add the juniors and seniors to the schedule this year. For this year, Sirius can take the sixth, seventh, and eight graders and Remus can take the ninth and tenth graders since they’ll have a more intensive course and Remus will also be dealing with the pack on top of teaching. Once we have all seven years taking it, Sirius can take the first four while Remus will take the last three. That work for you both?” Ric suggested. 

“Works for me, but could we also sit in on some of the other classes to try and learn spirit magic?” Sirius asked. 

“You can audit classes whenever you like and are free of course, but given the schedules it would probably be more worthwhile to just have some of the teachers tutor you separately,” Ric suggested. 

“I can help you get started since I can sense the magic and help you learn how to direct it the right way. Once you have the hang of that, I’m sure any of the witch teachers would be happy to help you as well,” Kai offered. 

“We’d appreciate that,” Remus thanked him. 

“I do have one other question,” Sirius said. “I’m not saying I want to right now, and maybe not ever, but…if I did decide I wanted to become a vampire, would that be an option?” 

Ric answered the first part of the question. “If you mean would it affect your employment here, no. Not as long as you can keep control of your bloodlust, which, as I understand, generally only takes a few weeks at most to sort out.”

“Usually closer to a few days, but you should know that if you become a vampire, you wouldn’t have access to your magic anymore. You can’t be both a vampire and a witch. They cancel each other out,” Damon added. “As far as whether someone would be willing to turn you, the best I can say for that is maybe and it would depend on a lot of things that we could sort out when and if you decide that’s what you want.” 

“Yeah, okay. It was just a thought. I don’t know that I’d want to give up my magic for it though. Maybe if it was life and death…”

“Part of your employment paperwork will involve a questionnaire for the medical records as to whether you would accept vampirism as a life-saving measure in case of emergency or incapacitation like a long term coma or similar,” Ric told him. 

“Okay. In that case I’d definitely accept that. At least until Harry is grown enough to not need me anymore. I’d rather be here for him as a vampire than not at all,” Sirius decided.


	14. Chapter 14

“I’m guessing that’s not an option for werewolves though?” Remus guessed. 

“Hybrids are much more complicated. Until or unless we have a safe way to stabilize them, no. It’s not an option for werewolves,” Ric told him, declining to mention that there wasn’t a whole lot of effort going into finding a way. Hybrids were too close to invincible for any of them to feel comfortable with making them. While Remus would probably be okay as one, and a handful of the other wolves at the school would be acceptable, for the most part it was best not to play god that way. 

“Fair enough,” Remus nodded. 

“So since everything is settled, I’ll get you both packets that I need filled out and we’ll put you in guest rooms for now or…do we need one room or two?” Ric asked. 

The Brits looked at each other nervously before Sirius said hesitantly, “One?” 

“Okay then. Just so you know, there is no discrimination here for /any/ factor, so there’s no need to hide your relationship if you don’t want to. We’re all very accepting here,” Ric told them.

“Thank you,” Remus sighed with relief.

“I’m guessing that’s another thing your backwards society looked down on,” Damon snorted disdainfully, getting nods from both men. 

“Well you don’t have to worry about that here,” Ric assured them. “It does mean that Remus won’t be able to be housed in the werewolf dorms though. It’s too risky to put a witch in there if we can help it. I would like you to have an office there and regular office hours though,” he told Remus. 

“I can do that,” Remus promised, not wanting his mate to live with the wolves either from what he saw of their demeanors. 

“Most of our staff, aside from the Salvatores who live in the vampire dorms and the Bennetts in the witch dorms live in the lower school to help with the young ones, but I’m not sure how I feel about a wolf living with them either,” Ric said as he considered the situation before grinning as he found a solution. “How would you feel about living in the dorms for our rare students?” 

“Why the strict segregation?” Sirius asked worriedly. It seemed rather against their non-discrimination policy and attempts at unity. 

“While we want everyone to learn to get along of course, each species is still different and have different needs. It’s best that they all have their own spaces to retreat to as a sanctuary. That’s not to say that friends can’t come and visit, students are often in and out of each other’s dorms, but once curfew comes everyone has to be in their own areas. It cuts down on incidents when the staff can’t be watching twenty four seven,” Ric explained. 

“Like just because you’re not living with the lower school doesn’t mean you can’t visit there with Harry or any of the other kids or teachers. Just like you’re welcome to visit me in the vampire dorms, or Kai in the witch dorms,” Damon told him. 

“What do you mean by rare students?” Remus asked curiously, completely understanding their stance on the matter of housing. 

“While most of our students are witches, werewolves, and vampires, we do have some students from more rare species. We don’t turn away any supernatural child if we can help it, no matter their species. Right now they are being housed elsewhere, but we have been working on setting aside a group of rooms for them,” Ric explained. 

“Right now we have a phoenix, a shadow nymph, a fairy, and a siren. We also have a dryad in the lower school, but he’ll stay there until he ages up until or unless we discover something about the species that might pose a threat to the other children,” Kai told them. They had just picked up the siren last week. 

“We’ve hesitated on moving them for now since having them separated from the rest of the students without supervision is not a good idea, but all of the current supernaturals on staff are needed where they are,” Ric told them. 

“Since you’re a mixed couple, it makes sense to put you with the varied students,” Damon chimed in. 

“Yeah. That sounds okay. But I don’t know anything about any of those species other than that a phoenix is a bird. I didn’t know they were that intelligent though to be students,” Sirius told them. 

“I’ll get you a basic info sheet on each of them, but phoenixes aren’t just birds. They start out in a human form and only gain an avian form when they turn fifty and go through a burning day. They /can/ live only in their avian form after that, but usually they go back and forth as needed.”

“Kind of like an animagus,” Sirius nodded. 

“You’ve mentioned that term before. What is it?” Ric asked curiously.

“It’s what they call a wiza…witch who can turn into an animal at will. It’s really difficult to do and not many have the ability,” Sirius explained. 

“Oh, you mean like this?” Kai asked popping into his fox form. 

“You’re an animagus?” Sirius asked in awe. 

“Most witches are,” Kai shrugged. “It’s not that hard with spirit magic. We just have to merge with our spirit animal. It’s probably extremely difficult to attempt to twist the nature magic into that form though, so the fact that you succeeded is impressive.” 

“So most of the students can do that too?” Remus asked curiously. 

“Yes and no,” Kai shrugged. “They all have the ability, even the little ones, and I wouldn’t be surprised if a few of them figure it out on their own in secret. We only teach it in the last semester of their senior year though.”

“Imagine how much harder it would be to keep five hundred students in line if they could all turn into all manner of animals at will,” Ric chuckled. 

Sirius barked a laugh at the mental images of teachers chasing animals all over the school. “That makes sense.” 

Kai then looked appraisingly at Remus before saying, “We’ve never known of a werewolf that was also a witch. While I seriously doubt you would be able to take any other animal form, it may be possible for you to change into your wolf form as your spirit animal. It’s something to look into if you would be interested.” 

“I think…yeah. Eventually. I think I should get a good handle on the spirit magic before trying. And we should be careful just in case I don’t keep my mind during like the werewolf transformation,” Remus told him. 

“I’m almost certain that you would keep your mind outside of the forced full moon transformations. It’s possible that unlocking the form as your spirit animal could allow you to keep your mind during the full moon as well. When we do get around to it, would you mind if I write up the results to put in some reference books?” 

“No, I don’t mind, but I don’t think I want my name associated with it publicly,” Remus told him. 

“Sure, we can keep it anonymous, though anyone who knows you would likely figure it out since you’re the only known witch/werewolf besides Hope who is a witch, werewolf, vampire hybrid and completely unique. Though now that I think about it, her ability to change into her wolf form at will and always keep her mind might have more to do with the spirit animal aspect than her unique species…”

“Oh great. Now you’ve got him on a research tangent,” Damon teased. 

“Sorry,” Kai chuckled as he snapped out of it. “Just something to consider.” 

“Okay, so for now we’ll get you set up on the hall for the rare students. We’ll introduce you, Remus, to the wolves first. Damon, can you set something up for tomorrow?” 

“Sure thing. I’ll go track Raphael down once we’re done here and have him call a meeting,” Damon agreed. 

“Okay once that’s settled, we’ll introduce you to the rest of the summer students, probably tomorrow night at dinner since almost all students come to dinner in the dining hall and then pull the rare students aside the next day to see about getting them moved in.”

“Sounds like a plan boss man,” Damon quipped. 

With that, the meeting was finished and Damon went out to hunt down Raphael while Ric led Sirius and Remus down to where their new rooms would be. “Right now they’re all set up like dorm rooms, but we’ll get the architecture club down here to modify the area into something more resembling an apartment in the next few days. We’ll go ahead and make at least two bedrooms for when Harry is comfortable staying with you here, but do you want a third bedroom as well?” 

“Might as well. Better to have too much space than not enough. I’m sure we can use it for something,” Remus said. He was hoping that he would be able to talk Sirius into adopting some of the orphans here now that there were no laws saying that werewolves couldn’t take care of children. He knew better than to throw that at his mate right now though. He had just gotten out of prison and they were trying to reconnect with Harry. That was a conversation for much later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really iffy about Sirius becoming a vampire. On one hand I would love to make Sirius a vampire, but on the other hand he and Remus are together and since wolves mate for life, it would be kinda cruel to separate them when Remus eventually dies. But then, Sirius doesn't have to mate for life, so he could always move on and find happiness again later. Basically, I can't decide, so I'm asking all you readers out there...what do you think?
> 
> Also, sorry for focusing so much on Sirius and Remus. I'm just having fun with them. We should be moving on soon.


	15. Chapter 15

While Damon and Remus were meeting with the wolves the next day, Jo was looking for her brother thanks to a surprise visitor. Since he wasn’t answering his phone in his office or apartment, she started on the grounds and eventually found him sitting by the lake, clearly meditating. She felt bad for interrupting his meditation, but if ever there was a time it was now. “Kai?” she said softly placing a hand on his shoulder. 

He opened his eyes slowly and turned to look at her. “What’s wrong?” he asked immediately upon seeing the concern in her eyes. 

“Nothing’s…wrong, exactly,” she said hesitantly. 

“Okay, then what’s /not/ wrong?” Kai asked with a half-chuckle. 

Jo had fought with herself all the way out here trying to decide whether to just bring him up and surprise him with it or give him a little warning. Judging by his questioning of her, he wasn’t going to give her a choice anyway. She sat down next to him, wanting to be comfortable in order to break this news. “Well, you know how I told you that I was sending all the research you had on the Gemini coven and siphoners to Luke and that I would tell him your story and all?” 

“I remember,” Kai said nervously. “That was almost five months ago.” 

“He’s been dealing with a lot in that time,” Jo explained, not really wanting to go into detail of the worst of it. That would be for Luke to tell him if he chose to. 

“I’m guessing since you’re bringing it up, you’ve heard from him?” 

“Sort of,” Jo bit her lip. “He’s here.” 

“Here? As in at the school here?” Kai asked, trying to force down his panic. 

“Yeah. He wants to see you,” she told him. 

Kai took a few deep breaths for calm before getting to his feet. “Well, let’s not keep him waiting then,” he said in a defeated tone. 

“It’ll be okay, Kai,” Jo assured him, wrapping her arm around his waist as they walked. 

He squeezed her to him in thanks. “I hope so. Did he tell you what he wanted with me?” 

“No. He wanted to talk to you alone,” Jo told him. Kai nodded and the rest of the walk was spent in silence until they got where they were going. “You’ll have the teacher’s lounge all to yourself,” she promised. Hardly anyone used it in the summer anyway. 

Kai nodded again and stepped inside, sucking in a sharp breath when he saw the man that he hadn’t seen since he was four years old. When Kai was trying to kill him. He closed his eyes against the onslaught of memories and thus was caught off guard by how close Luke was when he opened them. He was beyond surprised to be pulled into a hug by his older baby brother, and Kai choked back a sob as he hugged him back. “I’m sorry, Kai,” Luke said emotionally. “I didn’t know. None of it.” 

“I’m sorry too,” Kai tried to reel in his emotions. “I panicked and lost it. I should never have…”

Luke let go and stepped back far enough to look at his brother, keeping his hands on Kai’s shoulders. “No. You shouldn’t have. But you weren’t completely at fault. The things they did to you…I couldn’t…”

Kai’s eyes widened. “What do you…How do you…”

“I needed to see the truth. I needed to understand. I went to the basement and cast the videatur memorias with a lock of your hair that I had Jo send me,” Luke admitted. “I saw everything they ever did to you down there.”

“At least you didn’t use the vivamus memorias,” Kai muttered, unable to look at his brother knowing what all he’d seen. 

“I didn’t dare,” Luke admitted. “I don’t know how you survived, much less managed to hold together as well as you did. I don’t blame you for snapping.” 

“I still see their eyes you know? Our other brothers and sisters. I can still feel their blood on my hands. Josie’s blood,” Kai gave his own admission. 

“It wasn’t your fault, Kai. It was Mom and Dad’s. They were the ones at fault. Let go of the guilt brother,” Luke said running a hand through Kai’s hair soothingly. 

“I don’t know if I can,” Kai whispered. 

“I summoned Father’s spirit afterwards,” Luke told him. “I needed to hear what he had to say for himself. I called upon our ancestors and banished him from the Gemini line. He can never spread his poison again. Not even to the dead.” 

“Good,” Kai said with a half-smile, looking up at his brother for the first time since the memory spell was mentioned. 

“I told him the truth about you first though. From the information about siphoners right up to how you nearly sacrificed your life to save a school full of children,” Luke said with a half-smile of his own. “I understand if you never want anything to do with the coven again, but I need you to know that you will be welcomed among us with open arms should you ever wish to return.” 

“I don’t know,” Kai said hesitantly. “I’ll have to think about it. And discuss it with my family.” 

“Of course,” Luke nodded. “Since the emotional part is out of the way, do you want to take a walk while we talk? I’ve never actually seen the school, despite being a major donor,” he chuckled.

“You were one of the donors?” Kai asked, motioning Luke for the door in acceptance of his request. 

“On behalf of the Gemini coven, I donated half of our fortune with the understanding that any Gemini children would attend for free for a hundred years,” Luke told him. 

“That was good of you,” Kai told him. 

“I’ve also set aside a fair amount for you, just as I did for Jo when she declined to return to the coven. I’ll get you the details of the account before I leave.” 

“I appreciate that, but it’s no necessary.”

“Yes. It is,” Luke said in a tone that brooked no argument. While they walked, Luke asked, “I didn’t understand a lot of the information on what siphoners could actually do, but I got that they were able to defuse curses. I have to ask…the Gemini twin curse…can you do anything about that?” 

“We’ve found ways to stop the merge from taking place if that’s what you mean,” Kai told him. He would have thought that Jo would have told him that part to. 

“No, I know that part. I mean from the entire bloodline. See, as things stand right now, unless either your or Jo’s twins decide to go through with the merge, I will be the last leader of the Gemini. And when I die, so will everyone of Gemini blood, including you and Jo and your kids. Only a merged twin can lead the coven and everyone’s lives are tied to the leader,” Luke reminded him. 

“Oh,” Kai let out a heavy breath as that dawned on him. He hadn’t spared much thought to the fate of the coven as a whole. Mostly because of how they felt about him and how they had treated him. Now that Luke laid it all out like that, he was kicking himself for not realizing. “I’ll have to look into it,” he promised. “This isn’t going to be as simple as just pulling the magic from the curse because it’s completely merged into the family magic. Bloodline curses are complicated.” 

“If there’s anything I can do to help your research along, just let me know.”

“It would help if I could get an analysis of the magic of a merged twin…”

“Of course. What do you need me to do?” Luke asked seriously. 

They were almost to the lake, so Kai led them to the bench to sit. “Just give me your hand,” Kai held out his own. 

Luke placed his hand in Kai’s without hesitation and scrunched his nose almost immediately. “That feels strange.” 

Kai chuckled, remembering how Josie said almost the same thing when he did this to her. “I’m sure it does. I’m basically poking around in your magic.” He definitely felt the difference that the merge made. He could even sense Liv there too and the two magics that were fused together. Getting a taste of the completion of the curse was much more helpful than the latent one. 

When Kai pulled back, Luke asked, “Can you do it?”

“I don’t know. Probably. It’s going to take a while for me to figure out how, but now that I can see how it works, it’ll be easier,” Kai told him. “Can you still feel Liv? Can you communicate with her at all?”

“I can still sense her presence, but more as a part of me. I can get whisps of her memories and her feelings, but she’s not…separate enough I guess…to communicate in any way,” Luke explained as best he could. 

Kai nodded slowly as he filed that information away as well. “That fits with what I could sense of the magic. For now, shall we continue the tour?” 

“Yes, please,” Luke smiled as he got up and reached out a hand to pull Kai to his feet. “How are you liking it here? Are you enjoying teaching?” 

“I am actually. I wasn’t sure if I would, but it’s much more rewarding than I would have expected. I mean, since we were in the prison world for their whole lives I always helped to teach my kids and my godkids, but it’s not nearly the same.” 

“According to Jo, you’re one of the most popular teachers,” Luke told him, not sure if he realized that. “Apparently you’re ‘inspiring’.” 

Kai smiled brightly. “It’s nice to know that the kids feel that way.”

“I do believe you’ve found your calling, brother,” Luke chuckled. 

“Maybe so.” 

“Could I meet your family while I’m here?” Luke asked hopefully. 

“Sure. Okay. Bonnie, my wife, should be picking the little ones up around now if you want to come by our rooms,” Kai offered, beyond glad to have his last brother back in his life. He didn’t know about rejoining the coven, but this much he definitely wanted.


	16. Chapter 16

Since Remus was nominally in charge of the wolves, it was agreed that Sirius would be the faculty advisor for the rare students, all of whom were at the school for the summer, so when they moved in, Sirus took the time to meet with each of them individually. After reading the info sheets that Kai sent him. Wade and Landon would be rooming together, as would Penelope and Kala. Kala was a siren that had just been picked up two weeks earlier. Like Wade and Landon, she had been adopted as a baby and knew nothing about her family or species. Also like them, learning what she was had them disowning her. Penelope was different. She still had both of her parents, but they had apparently hid among the witches generations ago and forgotten over time that they were anything different. The ease with which the nymphs could use spirit magic helped that along, though they’d learned that nature magic was more natural for them. From what Kai had read, nymphs were one of the few species that could use more than one type of magic. 

On move-in day for the rare kids, Sirius and Remus were making an effort to be visible in the hall when they noticed a familiar face. “Fawkes?” Remus asked in surprise, wondering what he could want here. Did he come after them for Dumbledore?

Both men were shocked into stupor when he landed and transformed into a man. “Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. It’s good to see that you’ve found your way here.”

Sirius was the first to regain his powers of speech. “That’s right. I almost forgot that phoenixes have a human form too.” 

“That doesn’t bode well given that you now have a phoenix student in your care,” Hephaestus said amusedly. 

Remus jumped to his mate’s defense. “I think it’s more a matter of we’ve known you for so long as a bird that it was just surprising to see you suddenly differently.”

“I am aware. I was attempting to make a joke. Young Landon has told me that I need to ‘lighten up’ as he terms it,” Hephaestus chuckled. 

“Right,” Sirius grinned. “So is Fawkes your real name or…”

“Hephaestus!” Landon said happily as he came out of his room. “You’re early.”

“I wanted a chance to introduce myself to your new teachers. I understand you have a new roommate as well?” 

Landon waved his mentor into his new room and introduced him to Wade. They chatted for a few minutes before Landon looked at his watch. “Hope is going to be meeting us by the lake in a few minutes.”

“Then we should go. I have been very much looking forward to meeting your girlfriend,” Hephaestus told him. There was a rather important conversation he needed to have with the two of them as well. 

Once they got to the lake and the introductions were made, the three of them sat on the ground. “So I got the feeling that your eagerness to meet her had another reason,” Landon said leadingly. 

“It did,” Hephaestus nodded as he looked Hope over. “I understand that Landon is quite serious in his feelings for you. Is it the same for you?” 

“Yes,” Hope said evenly, trying not to betray her nerves. “I know that you probably want him to repopulate the phoenixes since you’re the last ones left, but…”

“That is no matter,” Hephaestus cut her off. “Any male children he has will always be phoenixes regardless of the mother. Only the female children will take after her.”

“Oh,” Hope said looking at Landon curiously. 

“I didn’t know that either, and we’re a ways off from talking about kids so…” Landon shrugged. 

“Naturally. You are both very young and that is a conversation for far in the future,” Hephaestus agreed. “However, you both need to be warned that phoenixes mate for life. Should the two of you become intimate, Landon will never have the ability to be so with anyone else for the rest of eternity.”

“That’s why you never had more children,” Landon realized. He had long wondered why Hephaestus never reproduced to create more phoenixes since he felt so alone. 

“Correct. Once my wife left me and then later died, I was unable to move on,” Hephaestus told them. 

“That won’t be a problem,” Hope told him. “I’m part werewolf. We mate for life as well. I’m also part vampire which means I’m immortal too. That’s why we haven’t taken that step yet.” 

“That’s good. I’m glad that you are both being careful. For both your sakes, be very confident before you take that step,” Hephaestus told them. He didn’t want to voice his hopes that they would last for fear of jinxing it. There could be no better mate for a phoenix than one that also mates for life, can bear him children, and can stay by his side for eternity. It was a rare combination. The next few hours were spent just getting to know each other and when Hephaestus left, he was more sure than ever that his young relative had found his life mate. 

Meanwhile, Kai was going over the books and research with the help of Bonnie, who had a better head for the theoretical magics, trying to find a way to undo the Gemini curse. It took them two weeks to figure it out, but when they finally figured out the only way, Kai slammed the books down and took off. Bonnie winced, knowing how difficult this must be for him and did the only thing she could think of. She called Luke. The only one he would listen to right now. 

Luke found Kai at the bar in town and he was completely smashed, so their talk would have to wait. He helped his brother back to the school and put him to bed where he promptly passed out. Bonnie offered him the couch so he could be there when Kai woke up, and Luke took the opportunity to ask her for details. “What’s got him in such a state? Is it not possible to break the curse?” 

“Oh, it’s possible all right. But not in a way that any of us like,” Bonnie muttered in irritation.

“What is the way?” Luke asked worriedly. 

“The only way to break the curse is to invalidate it. Once an unmerged twin has the power of the coven leader, the cycle is broken,” Bonnie said hesitantly. 

“But only a merged twin can take control of the coven,” Luke pointed out. 

“Which is why the only way to do it would be to unmerge the twins after the leadership is settled,” Bonnie told him, hoping that she wouldn’t have to spell it out. 

“So I would get Liv back? How is that so bad?” Luke asked confused. 

“No. You wouldn’t get her back. She would have nowhere to go,” Bonnie said worriedly, wondering how he was going to take it. 

“You mean…” Luke sucked in a sharp breath as it dawned on him. 

“She would cease to exist,” Bonnie finished with a sad sigh. “Understand that Kai, even while he was completely snapped, contented himself that his siblings would find the peace that he wouldn’t be able to if he was sent to the prison world. That was his impetus. Now though…just the idea that he will have to kill another of his siblings is bad enough, but denying her even that comfort…I don’t know how he can get through this.”

Luke’s eyes filled with tears at the thought of what his brother must be going through right now. “Maybe we could find someone else to do it,” he suggested. “If you know the way, then…”

“It won’t work. The solution requires a siphon witch and a standard witch working together. Other than him the only siphon witches are Jo’s daughters and our son. He would die before he put the same burden on them that he’s been carrying all these years.”

“And if it’s not done, then dozens of people, including his own children will die when I do,” Luke sighed heavily, realizing the heavy burden that rested on Kai’s shoulders. 

“Or one of our twins will have to kill the other. Or Jo’s twins. No matter which way we go, the cost is too high,” Bonnie blinked away her tears.

“There is only one way /to/ go. Liv is already gone in most ways. I like to think that the bulk of her spirit is already at peace, save for the small piece that is a part of me. She would agree that ending this curse is more than worth it,” Luke decided. 

“Please help Kai see it that way,” Bonnie told him, unable to disagree with anything he said. 

“I will do my best,” Luke promised. 

The next morning when Kai woke up, Luke was the only one there. Bonnie had already taken the little ones to the lower school and the twins were in the library working on their summer project. Bonnie herself, was taking the day to work with some of her students and give the brothers a chance to work this out. 

Luke handed Kai a cup of coffee and a pain potion as soon as he came out of the bedroom and Kai took it gratefully. Luke waited until Kai finished them both and was pouring himself a second cup of coffee before he started talking. He basically told him everything that he’d told Bonnie, but Kai still wasn’t completely convinced, so Luke pulled out the big guns. “She was so scared, you know? Of the merge. She didn’t want to do it. She knew that I would win.”

“And that’s supposed to make me feel better about this?” Kai scoffed. 

“Let me finish,” Luke said gently. “She wasn’t scared because she didn’t want to die. She was scared because she knew how much it would hurt me to be the one to kill her. She would have rather us both die slowly and in agony due to the uncompleted merge than make me responsible for her death.” When Kai got a more thoughtful look on his face, Luke realized that he almost had him hooked. “Whether the bulk of her spirit is at peace already or not, she wouldn’t hesitate to make the sacrifice so that no one else has to suffer through that again. She would do anything to keep any other twins from being forced to kill each other, even if it meant her own life.”

“Still…” Kai tried to argue weakly. 

“Still nothing,” Luke told him. “This isn’t like before brother. You’re not killing anyone. Liv is already gone. /I/ was the one who killed her. And I too will do anything to save any other twins from carrying this burden. You will be doing us all a favor if you do this. We will be in your debt.” 

“I’ll do it, but only because I have no choice. I don’t like it and I never will,” Kai finally agreed. 

“None of us like it, brother,” Luke said gently. “But as you said, there is no other choice.” 

“It’ll take a week to get everything ready.”

“I’ll be available when you’re ready,” Luke promised. “What can I expect from this or do you know yet?”

“It will be painful, and you’ll probably be unconscious for a few days while your mind and spirit settle into the new normal,” Kai explained. 

“Okay. I’ll make sure everyone knows I’ll be out of contact for a bit,” Luke nodded. “Anything else I should know?” When Kai shook his head, Luke thanked him again before the conversation turned to more mundane subjects.


	17. Chapter 17

Over the next few weeks things settled into a new routine. Sirius and Remus were settling in well and advancing in leaps and bounds with spirit magic. It still wasn’t quite instinctive yet. They still reached for their wands unconsciously more often than not, but they were getting there. Remus had gained full control over his wolf, able to both change at will and keep his mind regardless of the moon state. It made him even more accepted among the wolves who had taken him under their wing to help him throw off his figurative shackles. He was acting more and more like a wolf with every passing day. 

Kai had removed the curse from the Gemini line and it had gone as expected. Luke was having some trouble adjusting to being alone in his head, but he had known it would be difficult from the start. The fact that no other twins would ever have to merge again made it worth it. They would still need to actively prevent the twin merge in each set of twins that were currently living, but they weren’t sure if any new twins born would have that need. Just in case, Luke had all the information on the ways to prevent it and they promised to let him know the best way that worked once they figured it out so that he could add it to the coven’s resources. 

Harry was getting more comfortable with Sirius and Remus and even spent a night in their apartment a couple times. Both times with Damien since his best friend was also his security blanket in a way. They both still spent time with the other kids, especially Damien’s sisters and cousins, of course, but the two of them were as inseparable as possible. Damien even asked his parents if he could live in the kid’s dorms when school started back. That, of course, caused a run on all the other kids wanting the same. It was hard for Damon, Elena, Bonnie, and Kai to let go, but they knew they had to. In the end, they made a deal. They could stay in the kid’s dorms during the week, but they had to come home on weekends. The only exception was Gabe and little Kai. They didn’t have to come home on weekends since they would be right upstairs anyway, sharing a normal dorm room. 

Elena spent most of those weeks having the current rune books that they had gotten from Britain printed up. Getting more comprehensive ones including everything they had found in the Nordic region written and put together would be a long term project and also require Sirius and Remus to learn them first. Or new rune teachers if the two men moved on before then. All of the teachers were also working hard on creating detailed syllabi for each of their classes. Damon was just glad that he would only have two levels of Latin to teach this year. One for the true beginners and one for those who already had some knowledge of the language. Gabe and little Kai were exempt from those classes since they had been taught Latin from the time they were toddlers and were nearly as fluent in it as English, though they did offer their services tutoring the other kids in the subject. The other Salvatore and Bennett kids knew the language just as well and would be exempt from the classes when they hit the upper school as well. 

There was only a week left before the rest of the students would return and classes would start when their routine was interrupted again by a family at the gates seeking admittance. Since they had a little girl with them, it was assumed that they were looking to enroll her so they were led up to Ric’s office. As soon as they were sitting, the mother wasted no time asking, “I understand that you accept Fae children here, yes?” 

“I told you they did, Mommy,” the little girl rolled her eyes. 

“Yes, dear, but it’s still more polite to ask rather than assume,” she told her daughter amusedly. 

Ric couldn’t help but chuckle at the byplay. “The little one is correct. We accept any supernatural child, regardless of their species. Shall I take that to mean that she is a fairy?” 

“The correct term is Fae or Fae folk,” the woman told him. 

“I apologize. I meant no offense. We weren’t aware,” Ric said apologetically. 

“I know. No offense was taken,” she smiled and nodded. “I am Pandora Lovegood. This is my husband Xeno and our daughter Luna. My husband is a witch and I am Fae, so our daughter is half and half, making it difficult to find adequate schooling for her.” 

“I understand that. I don’t think that there are many integrated schools out there,” Ric nodded. “But you may be glad to know that we never turn away any supernatural child and we don’t allow discrimination in any way.”

“That’s why I told Mommy and Daddy we should come here. I’ll be very happy at this school,” Luna told him. 

“I do hope that you will,” Ric said indulgently.

“Luna is a seer,” Xeno told him. “It’s not something that we want broadcasted, but we felt that you and some of your staff should know, just in case.”

“I see. Well I will do my best to take any warnings or suggestions under advisement then,” Ric said, trying not to show his surprise. “Would you mind if I bring another of my teachers in on this conversation? He senses magic and can help identify any other gifts she may have. He is also our magical researcher and the closest thing we have to an expert on most species of supernaturals. I’m sure that, regardless of any other factors, he would love to speak with you and learn anything you’re willing to share about your people. We do have another Fae student that we’ve been struggling with how to help since so little is known.” 

“I would be happy to speak with him and to help this other student as well,” Pandora agreed with a smile. “I too am a magical researcher. I’m sure we will have much to discuss.”

Ric picked up the phone and called Kai, catching him in his office and asking him to come up as soon as he could. While they waited, Ric asked, “Does she use spirit magic or nature magic?”

“She has the ability to use both,” Pandora told him. 

“We mostly teach spirit magic, even to those few nature magic students we have, but that is simply because we don’t have anyone that is familiar enough with nature magic to teach it. We are working to make any written resources on the subject available as quickly as possible though,” Ric told her. 

Pandora, having already been advised of such by Luna, was prepared to make the offer. “I would be happy to teach one or two classes per week to those students with the affinity. We could consider Luna’s tuition my salary.”

“That would be wonderful. Thank you Mrs. Lovegood,” Ric said with a grateful smile. “We currently have three students in the upper years with the affinity, though one of them, like Luna, has the ability with both types of magic. Luna will be the second in the lower school with the affinity, so two classes per week should be plenty.”

There was a light knock on the door as it opened. “What’s up, Ric?” Kai asked sticking his head in. 

“Come on in, Kai. This is the Lovegood family. Mr. Xeno Lovegood is a witch, Mrs. Pandora Lovegood is a Fae…fairy is not the correct term…and little Luna Lovegood is half and half as well as a seer,” Ric introduced them. 

“I’ll make sure to correct the term in my notes,” Kai said first as he reached a hand to shake theirs, even little Luna who giggled at him. He only got the barest sense of their magic from the handshake, knowing that it would be rude to do a full analysis without permission. “It’s nice to meet you all. I’m guessing that you’d like Luna to attend the school?” 

“Yes. And I will be teaching your nature magic students one class a week for each age group,” Pandora told him. 

“Would you mind if I sit in on the class with the upper years?” Kai asked hopefully. “I don’t have any affinity for nature magic, but I would love to learn more about it.”

“I don’t mind at all. Your headmaster mentioned that you can sense magic? Are you a siphoner?” she asked curiously. 

“I am,” Kai nodded. “I’ve been trying to help work with the rarer species as much as I can since I can sense their magic. Most of them had no idea what they were. Our current Fae for example, thought that he was just a failure as a witch until I noticed the difference in his magic and we learned that he wasn’t a witch at all.”


	18. Chapter 18

“May I ask what other species you have here?” Pandora asked. 

“Currently, our main student body consists of witches, vampires, and werewolves. We also have one student each of Fae, two if we count Luna,” Kai smiled at the little girl who grinned back. “A siren, a shadow nymph, a phoenix, and a tribrid who is part witch, part werewolf, and part vampire.”

“So no elves or goblins or centaurs?” Pandora asked. 

“Not that we’ve found, no,” Ric told her. “Though we would never turn them away should we find them.”

“The Fae have long been friendly with elves and centaurs, but the goblins are a mortal enemy of ours,” Pandora explained. 

“Should we find a goblin child who wishes to attend here, we will not turn him or her away,” Ric said firmly. “Werewolves, vampires, and witches have been mortal enemies for centuries and they all attend. This school is all about inclusivity.”

Pandora smiled wider and nodded. He had passed her test. “I hoped you would say that. The division between the races has been the cause for much strife over the millennia. Perhaps this school really can be the birthplace of change.” Luna had told her that it would, but she was still so young and patterns such as that could be difficult for even experienced elders to determine. 

“Would you and Luna mind if I examine her magic to see if there are any other unknown gifts that she possesses?” Kai asked them. When he got a nod from both parents he held out his hand in invitation to Luna who placed her tiny hand in his without hesitation. She giggled at the sensation of him poking around in her magic until he pulled back. 

“You are aware that she has the ability to see in multiple dimensions?” Kai asked. 

“We are. It is a common ability among the Fae,” Pandora told him, surprised that he could sense that. 

“Other than that, I can tell that she is a powerful seer and her ability with nature magic is slightly greater than her ability with spirit magic, though she would benefit from learning both,” Kai told them. 

“Excellent. That is precisely why we brought her here. So that she could learn both. We would like to enroll her and if you could recommend a real estate agent nearby so that we can purchase a home here, we would be grateful.”

“Of course,” Ric opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out three packets. “These are the enrollment forms. This is a welcome packet for the parents with more information about the school. This is a packet for the student including maps of the grounds, though the lower school students aren’t allowed to wander without supervision.” He reached over and pulled a business card from the other side of his desk. “This is the local realty company, but they aren’t in the know about the supernatural world, nor is most of the town. We can get you in contact with Stefan and Caroline Salvatore. They are vampires who live in town and they can help you get settled in and let you know who all you can talk freely with.” 

“Thank you for your assistance,” Xeno said taking the business card once Ric had written Stefan and Caroline’s phone number on the back of it and the parent welcome pack. Thankfully he had done enough business with the muggle world in Britain to be familiar with the use of a telephone. Pandora took the enrollment forms and began to fill them out while Luna took the student pack and set it aside. 

“Can I go see my friends now?” Luna asked hopefully. 

Kai chuckled as the parents looked at him and Ric for an answer. “I would be happy to escort the little lady down to the lower school so that she can play while you finish up here.”

“That would be appreciated,” Xeno told him and Kai headed out with Luna bouncing excitedly beside him. “When will she need to be ready to board here by?” 

“The students return to campus on September second to return to class on September fourth. We ask any new students to arrive a day early so that they can have a medical exam and a guided tour of the campus,” Ric explained. 

“That will be enough time for us to tie up our business ventures in Britain and get all of our money converted to move here,” Xeno agreed. “What about a school uniform and supplies?” 

“We supply the uniforms and books. All she will need to bring is casual clothes for the weekends, toiletries, and notebooks and writing utensils. Anything that she forgets or runs out of we can always supply as well. We keep stocks of those sorts of things for just that purpose.” 

“Since we’ll be right in town and I’ll be coming up to the school each week anyway, you can simply let us know if there’s anything she needs and we can bring it,” Pandora told him. 

“Right. Of course,” Ric chuckled. “I’m not used to giving that speech to local parents.” 

The three people chatted for a while about the school, soon joined by Jo, while Pandora finished filling out the paperwork to admit Luna. Once that was done, she pulled a stack of papers out of her bag and handed them to Ric. “A copy of my proposed syllabus.”

“How did you…wait…Luna right?” Ric asked amusedly. 

“Yes. It does come in handy for being prepared. Especially this close to the start of the school year.”

About that time Kai returned to rejoin them. “I was thinking…do you think you could add a few more students to your nature magic class? We have a few siphoners here that could benefit from learning more about other types of magic.”

“I will never turn away a siphoner attempting to learn,” Pandora told him. 

“One of them is currently eleven. He just started the upper school, but depending on what you’re teaching at the different levels, he may be best with the younger students. What would you recommend?” 

“I would recommend all of your siphoners join the younger students. In the interest of time, the older students will be mostly practical with the theoretical information sprinkled in while the younger students will be more focused on the theory,” Pandora suggested. 

Kai looked to Ric and Jo. “Do you think Lizzie and Josie would mind taking a class with the little ones?” 

“Not if /you/ ask them to,” Jo laughed. The twins idolized their uncle and did their best to soak up everything he had to teach them. Especially since he’d been working with them much more closely over the summer.

“Then that’s what I’ll do,” Kai agreed. “So you will have three students in the upper class, and five in the lower one.”

“And I will do my best to schedule them both for the same day. Perhaps one in the morning and one in the afternoon and you can have office hours in between?” Ric suggested. 

“That sounds like a good arrangement. And if it becomes necessary, I can come up another day as well just for office hours,” Pandora agreed.

“You should know,” Kai jumped in. “Luna recommended that Sirius and Harry take a short trip back to Britain to close up their affairs there and get what they can transferred here.” 

“I’ll talk with them both about it this afternoon,” Ric promised. “I’m not sure if Harry is comfortable enough with him to take a trip just yet. Maybe we should see if Damon could go.”

“That wouldn’t be a good idea,” Kai told him. “If things there are as bad as Sirius and Remus say, then the last thing we need is to send a vampire in there. Especially one as hotheaded as Damon Salvatore. And given that some of their dealings will likely be with the goblins, we shouldn’t send any spirit magic users with them.”

Ric sighed. “Well that disqualifies the entire supernatural staff.” He thought for a long moment. “I really can’t take much time off this close to the start of the school year.”

“I can go with them,” Jo offered. “I can have some of my staff work up the final inventory lists and I’ll just have to be back in time to put in the orders for what we’re short on a few days before the students come back.” 

“And Damon is the one dealing with the blood deliveries, so that’s all taken care of. I know you wanted to observe the vampire testing though,” Ric pointed out. 

“I wanted to, yes, but it’s not crucial that I do. Dr. Harris can handle any medical issues that crop up from that. He’s more knowledgeable about vampire physiology than I am anyway.”

“Okay. Then if they agree, you can go with them,” Ric nodded. “Your passport is up to date for the flight and all?”

“Actually, you’ll want to go by portkey,” Xeno suggested. “I doubt young Harry or Sirius Black have passports either.”

“What is a portkey?” Jo asked. 

“It’s a spell applied to an object. Anyone touching it will be near instantaneously transported from one place to another. They are welcome to share our portkey back leaving in the morning,” Xeno offered.

“We might just take you up on that,” Jo nodded gratefully. “Where are you staying tonight?” 

“We haven’t decided on that yet. Is there an inn in town?” Pandora asked as she handed over the completed paperwork. 

“There is, but you’re welcome to stay here if it would make you feel more comfortable. We can put you in one of the guest rooms and Luna could either stay with you or spend the night in the dorms,” Ric offered. 

“I think we will take you up on that offer. It will give us a chance to see more of the school as well,” Pandora said gratefully. 

“If you’re done here, I can take you on a tour while they speak with Sirius and Harry and make arrangements for the trip,” Kai suggested and they quickly took him up on that.


	19. Chapter 19

Sirius was easy to convince. He had no intention of ever returning to Britain after seeing how much better things were here. Harry had no intention of returning either, but he didn’t really want to return even for this. Not to mention being taken away from the school by someone who wanted guardianship of him made him nervous. His first request was for Damon to come with them, but they explained why he couldn’t. In the end, it took Sirius telling him about some of the things that he could get of his families and Jo’s promise to stay with him the whole time to get him to agree to go. That and Damon’s promise that if he didn’t come back he would go find him and bring him back no matter what. 

The next morning, they met the Lovegoods and walked outside the gates. No one knew how the nature magic in the portkey would react to the spirit magic wards surrounding the school so they decided not to take chances. Both Harry and Jo, the first time portkey users, thought it was the most miserable ride of their lives and they both lost their lunches on the other end. “I would say, don’t worry, you’ll get used to it, but I guess you really won’t,” Sirius chuckled. 

“Thank god we only have to do that one more time to get home,” Jo moaned miserably as her stomach finally settled down and Xeno took his wand and vanished the mess both newbies made. 

“Kai suggested that I not use any kind of spirit magic while we’re here just in case certain species have some way of sensing it, so I’m gonna have to use my wand for this,” Sirius told them casting glamours over himself and Harry. The last thing they needed was to be recognized by the masses. He scrunched up his nose at the feel of the magic. Now that he knew the difference, the wanded nature magic just felt wrong. Once this was done and there was never any reason to come back here he had every intention of snapping his wand and burning the thing. 

“Where to first?” Jo asked. 

“First we head to the trunk store and get a pair of bottomless trunks before we go to the bank,” Sirius told them. “The money can be transferred, but there are a lot of heirlooms and such that we’ll want to take from the vaults too. I’ll have to apparate you. It’s not as uncomfortable as a portkey, but it’s not particularly pleasant if you’re not used to it.”

“Isn’t there any other way we can go?” Jo asked hopefully. 

“Well we could take the knight bus, but believe me. That’s even worse,” Sirius assured them. 

“Okay, we’ll try the apparating thing, but if it’s too bad we’ll give the knight bus a shot next time. How’s that sound, Harry?” Jo asked him, trying to pull him into the conversation. 

“Okay,” he said timidly, not quite recovered from the portkey trip yet. 

“Why don’t we stay here for a few minutes, if Xeno and Pandora don’t mind us having a spot of tea before we head off?” Sirius suggested, seeing that Harry wasn’t quite up to more just yet. 

“We don’t mind at all,” Pandora assured them. “Right this way,” she led them into the house that looked like a chess rook and explained how they called it the rookery. She was glad that the headmaster had offered to allow Luna to stay at the school with the summer students while they did all this. It would make it infinitely easier without having to coordinate childcare as well. “We will be going back to America in five days. Do you think that’s enough time to do what you need to do so we can ride back together?” Pandora asked as they sat down to drink the tea. 

“It should be,” Sirius agreed. “We should be able to get the trunks and make the arrangements to transfer the money today, but it’s late enough here that we’ll probably have to come back to visit the vaults and handle the investments and properties tomorrow. The next day we can clean out Potter Manor, the day after that Blackmoor Hall. I’m not about to try and brave my insane mother to get my old stuff from Grimmauld Place. I’m sure she’s still screeching about me getting the Black Lordship after she demanded my grandfather disown me.” 

“What will happen to your mother if you close all the Black accounts?” Pandora asked curiously. 

“I plan to let her keep Grimmauld Place. Her family stipend will end, but I’ll advance fifty years of it to her personal accounts before I close the family one. I’d be surprised if she lives another ten years what with her insanity issues, but at least she’ll be taken care of and I can wash my hands of the old hag,” Sirius huffed. 

“At least you’re not going to disown her,” Xeno said relieved. Disowning a family member was a big thing and not to be done lightly. 

“By all rights I should. Sixteen years of abuse, followed by kicking me out of the house and then trying to force me to be disowned…but I can’t do that to my mother. No matter how awful she is.”

“Do you have any other family members pulling family stipends?” Pandora asked. 

“I have a few cousins. Bellatrix is in prison for life and unlike me, deserves to be there. She’ll be disowned and I’ll reclaim what I can. Narcissa I’ll forward five years worth and then she’ll be cut off too. She married a rich lord in her own right anyway. Her kid will keep the black child trust vault, but that’s it. My other cousin Andromeda was disowned, and bringing her back into the family would be pointless since it’s about to be shut down. I’ll give her a percentage of the money and jewelry though. In fact, I think I’ll owl her and have her meet us at the bank tomorrow so she can pick what she wants of the jewelry and heirlooms. She’s one of the only good members of my family.”

“Sounds like you’ve had a pretty rough life with your family too,” Jo said sympathetically. 

“James and Remus were my family. And now Harry. The Blacks were just the people I was unfortunate enough to be related to. Most of them were blacker than their name,” Sirius said distastefully. Hearing about how Sirius’ family hurt him too made Harry feel a lot more comfortable with him. He knew what it was like and had chosen his own family. And he’d chosen Harry for that family. Sirius hadn’t brought up his treatment by his family before, not wanting to make Harry uncomfortable or bring up bad memories for him, but being back here was bringing it all back and he couldn’t not talk about it. At least in the broad terms.

Once they were done with their tea, Xeno and Pandora lent them all robes so they wouldn’t stand out. Neither Harry nor Jo liked apparating much, but neither of them lost the little bit they had left in their stomachs, so it was an improvement. The two bottomless trunks costed quite a bit of cash, but Sirius paid for it with his ring and then they headed to the bank with the shrunken trunks in their pockets. Sirius asked for an account manager and they were soon led to an office. One would think that the goblin was going to have a heart attack when he learned what they wanted, and tried nearly everything he could think of to change their minds before realizing that he wasn’t going to be able to. The transfers of gold to Sirius’ other family members was handled immediately and Sirius handed over the information for his new American bank account for the rest to be transferred to. 

“Do I have any other family members that I need to take care of before I close my accounts?” Harry asked Sirius. 

“No, pup. You don’t. You’re the last of your family,” Sirius assured him. There was a lot more paperwork to liquidate the Potter family vault since Harry wasn’t of age to access it. Only the fact that both Harry and his guardian were present and the money was going into a trust account in only Harry’s name that wasn’t able to be accessed until he was eighteen made it possible. They both had to sign in blood more than once even with that. Harry’s trust vault was easy and was sent to Sirius’ account for now. Sirius promised that he would open up a new account for Harry that he could access right away and put that money there for him. This hadn’t been planned so he didn’t have one ready yet. He had created the other account for Harry with the cash that he had left that he’d brought to America with him just in case something happened. His own American account was just for the deposit of his and Remus’ salaries from the school.


	20. Chapter 20

Before they left they made an appointment for the next day to liquidate the rest of their assets and visit the vaults to take care of everything that wasn’t money. Jo had been shocked speechless ever since they first started talking amounts and then more so once they got the converted amounts. Both Sirius and Harry were multi-billionaires. Sirius had told her they were rich, but she was no prepared for just how rich. “Why don’t we stop for some ice cream before we leave?” Sirius suggested, steering them both for Florean’s. 

Jo found her voice again in time to order her own ice cream and the three of them sat at one of the outdoor tables while Sirius explained a bit of what they were seeing. Once they were done, they headed back to the apparition point and Sirius took them to what looked like old ruins. “You’re gonna need to place your hand on the gate, Harry. It’ll prick you to take a little bit of blood to make sure of who you are, but it’ll only hurt for a second.”

Harry took a deep breath and nervously did as he was told. He barely felt the prick to his palm before it disappeared and the gate swung open. “Wow. It’s so big,” Harry said with wide eyes now that he could see the house as it was.  
“You’re going to have to take both of our hands while we walk through the gate before we’ll be able to see it,” Sirius explained. He waited until they were through and Jo gasped in surprise at the sight of it before he said, “Welcome to Potter Manor.” 

“This is all mine?” Harry asked in shock. 

“That it is pup,” Sirius smiled and squeezed Harry’s hand. “I thought you might rather stay here than at my place while we’re in the country. First of all, I don’t know that I want either of you going to Blackmoor hall at all. It can be very dangerous for those without magic and isn’t really suitable for children. Second of all, the portraits of your family are here and I thought you might like to talk to them before we take them back with us.”

“Talk with portraits?” Jo asked curiously. 

“There’s a kind of magic…I don’t really understand it…but it leaves an imprint of a person on the portrait. It has their memories, personalities, and everything,” Sirius explained to them both as they walked to the house. When Harry hesitated to open the door, Sirius reached over and opened it for him. No sooner than they stepped inside the entryway was full of twelve small beings about the size of Harry. 

“Oh master Harry. You bees home,” one of them said happily reaching for his hand. 

“Right. I forgot about the house elves,” Sirius said sheepishly. “You’re going to need to renew their bonds.” After he walked Harry through that, explaining along the way that too long without an active bond will cause the elf to whither and die. The only reason these elves had survived as long as they had was the inherent magical nature of the manor and feeding off the wards and they were still on their last legs. 

Once the bonds with the elves were renewed, Sirius led Harry and Jo into the library where the portraits of Harry’s parents and grandparents were. The rest of the family portraits were in the portrait room, but the two most recent generations always hung in the library so as to advise their children and grandchildren. No sooner than they walked in, a woman’s voice said sternly, “Sirius Orion Black! What’s the meaning of waiting so long to bring Harry to visit us.”

“Umm…Lils…that’s kind of a long story,” Sirius winced. 

“M-mum…D-dad,” Harry said longingly before he broke down in sobs. Sirius caught him before Jo did and sat on the floor with him, holding him as he cried. James and Lily got the hint that there was more going on here than they knew and kept quiet while Sirius tried to calm their son. 

It didn’t take long for Harry to cry himself to sleep in Sirius’ lap. “He’s had a pretty long and stressful day. Maybe this should have waited,” Jo said sadly. “Since I don’t know my way around, why don’t you take him up to bed and I’ll explain what I know to his parents until you get back.”

“Yeah. That’s a good idea. Thanks Jo,” Sirius said gratefully. 

Once they were out of the room, Jo turned to the portraits. “Hello. I’m Jo Saltzman from the Salvatore School where Harry attends.”

“Salvatore School? I thought Hogwarts was the only magic school in the country,” James said confused. “And isn’t he too young for school still?”

“We’re located in America and we start students at five. Earlier this summer, Harry’s uncle, a Vernon Dursley, was temporarily transferred to America for his job and Harry popped up on our sensors. When the school representatives arrived and found that Harry was being abused there, they quickly acted to take over his guardianship,” Jo explained, knowing that it was best to rip off the bandaid with such things rather than beat around the bush.

“Abused?! How dare they?!” Lily screeched. 

“Why the hell was he even with them in the first place?!” James roared. 

“That is a long story and it would be easiest if I just tell the whole thing and then answer questions. From what I understand, Sirius was sent immediately to prison without a trial after your deaths and Remus was forbidden from seeing Harry due to being a werewolf, so he was placed with his aunt and uncle. Once the school gained guardianship it wasn’t two weeks later before we had a visit from an old man named Albus Dumbledore insisting that we send him back to his aunt and uncle, even after we told him of the abuse and showed him the evidence of it. Naturally we refused and sent him on his way.”

“Thank you for that,” Lily said sincerely. 

“You’re very welcome. We would never allow any child to be left in an abusive situation. I got the next part of the story from Sirius and Remus. Apparently Mr. Dumbledore attempted to claim magical guardianship to have little Harry removed, but Sirius was still recognized as his magical guardian because he hadn’t been convicted so they pulled him out of prison and drugged him up on truth potion to get a confession. When it turned out that he was innocent he was set free, found Remus and the two of them came to the school looking for Harry.”

“And were subsequently faced with an en masse inquisition,” Sirius chuckled as he came back in. 

“Well the last person who had come looking for Harry demanded that he be sent back to an abusive home and then tried to attack us when we refused. We weren’t about to take any chances,” Jo laughed. 

“So we’re sitting there, facing down about a dozen people…”

“There were only eight of us,” Jo pointed out amusedly. 

“It felt like more,” Sirius responded before getting back to the story. “And let me tell you they were more than a little protective of Harry, which was the only reason we put up with it as easily as we did. They even had a school therapist there talking about what Harry needed and why.”

“He had been with us for more than a month at that point. He had made good friends, gotten attached to many of the adults, it was the therapist, Emma’s opinion that removing him from the first place he ever felt comfortable and at home would do more harm than good,” Jo wanted to explain why they didn’t hand custody over to his chosen godfather when asked. 

“They had no problem with us meeting Harry and getting to know him over the course of the summer and then coming to stay with us on future breaks, but only if Harry was comfortable with it. Obviously, we didn’t want him traumatized any more than he already was either, so it was the best solution. Once that was settled and they realized that we just wanted what was best for Harry too, Remus and I got ordered to their infirmary.”

“I didn’t like how rough they looked and I wanted to be sure that they would be okay,” Jo shrugged. 

“And were they?” James asked worriedly. He couldn’t imagine how six or seven years with dementors would have affected his best friend. Or how all that time alone without his mate would have affected his other best friend. 

Jo looked at Sirius for permission since it was his medical information and when he waved for her to tell them she said, “Sirius here was extremely malnourished and had all manner of infections running through his body. Remus wasn’t nearly as bad, but he wasn’t exactly healthy either.”

“She kept us in the infirmary for a few days and when we got out, we got offered jobs,” Sirius grinned. “Remus and I are both teachers at Harry’s school now. Not for his grade. We only teach the students eleven and up, but we’re still close by and he has a room in our apartments for when he’s comfortable using it.”


	21. Chapter 21

“Moony’s a teacher too? Do they know…you know,” James asked. 

“Sure they do. In fact, that’s a lot of the reason we were hired. They needed a werewolf and staff to help with the werewolf students,” Sirius told them, knowing that he was dropping a bombshell, but seeing it as a great prank. Especially since he kept going. “They had been stuck with the head vampire keeping track of both the vampires and the werewolves.”

“Vampires and werewolves? At the school?” Lily asked in shock. 

“Our school is all about inclusivity. We have all manner of supernatural children and do our best never to turn anyone away,” Jo jumped in. 

“In fact, Harry’s best friend is a vampire kid his age. The son of the head vampire of the school,” Sirius told them. 

“We have nothing against vampires and werewolves in general and like the idea of being inclusive, but is it really safe?” Lily asked concerned. 

“It is. Each species has their own dorm building and the lower school has their own separate building as well. The vampires drink blood from the blood banks and the wolves are in locked and warded locations during the full moon. There are still some fights between the groups of course, but our warding scheme notifies the staff immediately of any problems so that we can get it resolved quickly and peacefully.” 

“I’ve seen it in action a few times and let me tell you, James and I would have been expelled in first year if Hogwarts had anything like it,” Sirius chuckled. 

“The safety of our students is always our first priority,” Jo told them.

“Then I’m all for it,” James nodded and Lily easily agreed. 

“So I’m guessing you decided to take a quick trip here before school starts back up for the year?” Lily asked. 

“Actually, we’re here to completely clear both families out of Britain,” Sirius told them. “We’re moving to America permanently.” 

“What? Why?” James asked appalled. 

“Because spending the last month over there has made me realize just how bad this place is. Do you know that they don’t even use wands over there?” The next while was spent with Sirius, and occasionally Jo, explaining the state of things in Britain, the different types of magic, how spirit magic users started using nature magic and so on. They railed against the subjugation of other magical beings, the corrupt government that saw Sirius imprisoned unjustly for so many years, the failings of Hogwarts now that Sirius had seen a better way, and so on. By the time Sirius and Jo went to bed around midnight, even James’ parents were all for getting the hell out of Britain and never looking back. 

The next morning, they took breakfast in the library, served by Mipsy, one of the Potter elves, so that Harry could chat with his parents and grandparents. He spent most of the time fighting tears, but didn’t have another breakdown. Once the finished breakfast they promised the portraits and the elves that they would be back for dinner and headed out to the bank. The first two hours there were spent going over the stocks, business shares, and properties of both houses. The Potter family had a few assets in America and those were kept. The goblins were told that they would be contacted by an investment firm there that would take them over. The Blacks had nothing muggle, and thus nothing in America so everything was sold. 

The business shares were instructed to be offered to the other owners for buyout first at ten percent off market value. If they couldn’t or didn’t want to buy them out, they would be offered for public sale at market value. The family seats couldn’t be sold, but all other properties were set to be so, aside from Grimmauld Place for the Blacks. The properties that had tenants or businesses operating from them would be offered to their current occupants at the same rules as the business shares first. 

By the time all that was settled, Andromeda had arrived and met them at the vault instead of the lobby to better disguise the fact that Sirius Black was in the bank with a young boy that had to be Harry Potter. It was better that introductions were done outside the public eye. Andromeda got a much truncated version of the story as they went through the vault with her claiming what she wanted. Sirius had given her ten percent of the Black fortune which was enough for ten lifetimes. She ended up taking about thirty percent of the jewelry and only a few heirlooms from the vault before giving him a hug and thanking him for thinking of her. She made him promise to keep in touch before she left. 

By that time it was lunchtime so Sirius, Harry, and Jo headed to the Leaky Cauldron for a lunch break and then were right back in the Potter vaults. They started in the trust vault which only contained a few items. His parents’ school trunks, journals, and two more trunks with their personal belongings from Godric’s Hollow including James’ invisibility cloak. They all went in the bottomless trunk before moving on to the family vault. There was a lot more there, from furniture, weapons, armor, gems, both cut and uncut, jewelry, fancy clothes, an entire wall full of books, tapestries, including the self-updating family tapestry and more. Everything went in the trunk that was thankfully enchanted with unbreakable charms on anything placed inside. 

It was nearly dinnertime by the time they were finished and they headed back to Potter Manor. Since Sirius and Jo were keyed into the wards now they could apparate directly into the entrance hall. The elves were quick to take the trunks to the closet where they were asked to put them for now and the group headed into the library to talk to the portraits some more while they waited for dinner. While they were eating, Jo suggested, “Why don’t you go work on packing up Blackmoor Hall tomorrow and Harry and I can work on packing this place up. I’m sure the portraits will help us know what to take, and we won’t pack them up until just before we leave.” 

“That’s a good idea Jo. Thanks,” Sirius told her. “It’ll probably take a few days to pack this place up and that’ll keep us on track. There isn’t much that I want from Blackmoor Hall so I should be done with that in less than a day.”

The next day, Sirius headed out after breakfast and Harry and Jo started on packing up the library under the direction of the portraits. All of the books were going, but most of the furniture in there was the everyday nothing special variety so it was all left. After lunch, Jo carried the portraits into the living room and then the dining room before Sirius got back in time for dinner. All of the good china and silver was packed away but they didn’t use it for their meals anyway. After dinner was just time to chat with the portraits and Harry was coming out of his shell quite a bit getting the chance to talk to his parents and grandparents. Once Harry was in bed, Sirius and Jo spent a few more hours packing up the rest of the ground floor rooms. They had decided to pack up the portraits from the portrait room and just leave James, Lily, Fleamont and Euphemia for last. They also packed the study and a few things that Lily wanted them to get from the ballroom. 

The following day was spent with Sirius and Lily’s portrait going through the potions lab since they didn’t want Harry in there where a dangerous accident could be caused, while Jo, Harry, and James’ portrait worked on the outbuildings. Learning that flying wasn’t done or practical in America nearly broke James’ heart, but they still took the brooms anyway. Even if they would just gather dust in a trunk. They would be gathering dust in the shed if they didn’t take them, so it hardly mattered. The groups met back inside and started tackling the other floors. It ended up taking three days to get the manor finished and the last day in Britain was spent doing a quick sweep of any other empty properties before lunch and then meeting with the goblins one more time after lunch to see how the liquidation was going. It would be a while before it was finished so they just left instructions for the money to be transferred to either Sirius’ or Harry’s accounts as they finished. They met back at the Lovegood’s before dinner, neither Jo nor Harry wanting to take that trip on a full stomach, and they were back at the gates of the school minutes later.


	22. Chapter 22

They had decided that the portraits of Harry’s parents and grandparents would hang in the living room of Sirius and Remus’ apartment since he couldn’t really have them in the dorms. Both men secretly hoped that it would mean that Harry would visit more. The books would be gone through and anything age appropriate would be put in his room there where he could take a few at a time to read without taking up more than his allotted space in the dorm. Everything else would be set aside for him to go through and decide what to do with after he graduated. He suggested donating the books to the school, and then donating some of his money to the school, but everyone shot him down on that. 

“No, Harry. While we appreciate the thought, all that stuff is yours. When you’re grown up, if you want to make a donation, we’ll happily accept it, but don’t make any decisions on that until then,” Jo told him. 

“Besides, I already plan on making a rather large donation to the school once I double check with the bank and make sure everything has gone through,” Sirius said with a smirk, causing Jo and Ric to give him a grateful look. While all the changes they had been making, including so many new staff, were necessary, money would be getting very tight very soon without some additional donations. The fact that they were able to accept more students now didn’t help much in the short term. When he wrote them a check for two and a half billion dollars, half of what he currently had on hand, they nearly had heart attacks though. He had to argue with them to accept it. He told them that he wanted this to be the best school in the world and that took money. 

“What about the house elves?” Harry asked. “Can they help out at the school?” 

Before Ric or Jo could say no, Sirius chimed it, “It would be best if they could. House elves go mad if they don’t have work to do and with us here, there wouldn’t be enough for them to do just taking care of us.”

“Okay then. They can help wherever they wish,” Ric said, fully intending to set aside a fair salary for their work, even if they wouldn’t accept it. He would deal with that later. The last thing he wanted was to be the cause of a dozen beings losing their minds and since they were bound to Harry, he couldn’t even send them away. He did plan on asking Kai about checking them over to see if the curse on them could be broken so maybe it was a good thing they were there. He hated the idea of an entire race cursed into servitude. 

What Sirius didn’t realize, having not paid any attention to any newspapers or talked to anyone but Andi, who had decided not to mention it, was that the magical government in Britain was on the verge of collapse. Dumbledore had gone down for will tampering, accessory to child abuse, perjury in the case of Sirius Black, and a few other minor assorted charges. His verdict was announced five days after they had returned to America. 

Dumbledore was sentenced to five years in Azkaban, but everything ended up going wrong once they got there. There was a lot of finger pointing going on in the aftermath, but the fact was that Albus Dumbledore was kissed the moment they stepped into the prison. Only the death eaters knew the truth. That the dementors had been ordered by Voldemort many years ago to do the deed if they ever got a clear opportunity, and Albus Dumbledore, wandless and shackled, escorted by two rookie aurors due to the minor charges he was convicted of, was the best opportunity they were ever going to get. 

America was completely oblivious to everything going on, and they simply went on with their lives. Not long after the start of the school year, Luna mentioned during their nature magic class that the headmaster should build a new dorm building over by the lake. Josie and Lizzie, having been told in confidence about Luna’s seer ability, immediately took the suggestion to their father who set up a meeting with Luna and her mother to discuss the matter. Luna either couldn’t or wouldn’t give any more details beyond the fact that it needed to be there and ready relatively soon, so Ric started on construction, helped along by the generous donation from the Black fortune and the fact that much of the work was done by a combination of the architecture club witches who loved any opportunity to practice their hobby and the Potter house elves. It was build and outfitted by the Christmas break. 

Harry did spend more time visiting with Sirius and Remus once his parents portraits were there and by the time Christmas break rolled around, he didn’t even have to be convinced to spend it in his godfathers’ apartments, though there were still frequent sleepovers with Damien at either location. Kai had gotten as much of a read on the magic of the portraits as he could and had a somewhat decent idea of how they worked. Finding a way to create them with spirit magic was more of a long term project though because the principles of it didn’t translate very well. 

Another project that Kai had been working on, and dedicating much more time to, given the fact that it affected currently living beings, was breaking the house elf curse. He was thrown off quite a bit by the different magical ‘flavor’ of the elves, and the fact that he had no reference point for an uncursed elf. It wasn’t long after Christmas when he finally figured it out and kicked himself for missing the obvious for so long. He had to pull Sirius in who dug his wand out of mothballs and cast a few spells so that Kai could separate the feel of the twisted nature magic and the pure stuff. Once he did that he was easily able to figure out how to siphon off the curse. 

He was only able to do one elf per day due to his busy schedule, the time it took, and the foreign magic that his system had to absorb and purify, but two weeks later, all twelve of the Potter elves were no longer slaves and their appearances had changed slightly as well. Their posture straightened, their bodies filled out, they grew hair on their heads and their ears and noses shrank slightly. They still looked quite oversized for a human, but not to a comical degree anymore. 

For lack of anyplace else to put them for the moment, they were staying in the new dorm building. Both Kai and Jo wanted to keep them close for a few weeks to make sure there weren’t any complications, plus they, along with others, were attempting to help them adjust to their new circumstances including freedom. Ric took the opportunity to present them with the wages that they had earned for their work around the school, but they had no idea what to do with them. Before they could worry too much about what to do with them though, they had a group of visitors at the gates. 

This time Ric went down to meet them personally, and brought along Jo, Damon, Elena, Bonnie, Kai, Sirius, Remus, and Pandora who was thankfully at the school that day. The group that arrived seemed very much like a diplomatic delegation, so he would greet them as such with all of his senior staff. The fact that, to their knowledge, no one had laid eyes on a true elf in centuries made them all both nervous and honored. When he opened the gates, Ric stepped back and gave a respectful half-bow, not really sure what a polite greeting was for their species, but hoped that the gesture was universal enough that it got his point across. The rest of his senior staff copied his action and then the elves did the same. 

The group from the school led them into the new dorm, which had the bonus of not only being where the other elves were currently staying, but the most private place on campus now that all five hundred plus of the students were present. “Can we get you anything to eat or drink?” Ric asked once they were all seated. 

“Where is the one who cleansed the curse from our brethren?” the one who seemed to be the leader asked. 

“That was me,” Kai said nervously. 

“The elven nation offers your our gratitude and a boon,” he said. “Ask for what you wish, and if it is in our power we will grant it.” 

Kai goggled at them for a moment as his brain tried to reboot but in the end, there was only one thing he wanted to ask for. “What I did for them was a matter of honor. As such, accepting a boon in return would cheapen that act. I only hope that this can be the first step to friendship between your people and mine.”


	23. Chapter 23

“Well said young human,” the leader replied with what seemed to be the elvish version of a smile. “I understand that you have all made attempts to help our newly restored brethren, but we believe that they can be helped more by returning to our homeland with us where they can be reintegrated into our society.” The elf, as was their way, was acting as though this was a friendly visit for the time being, until or unless they learned otherwise. Their interactions so far boded well for that assumption, but this was the real test. Would their people be held hostage in return for some concessions or freely allowed to leave?

“Of course. If they wish to return with you, they are welcome to,” Ric assured them. 

“If they wish?” the leader asked with a raised eyebrow, wondering if there was some game afoot. 

“We have no intention of forcing anyone to go against their will and as long as they are on the grounds of this school they fall under our protection,” Ric told them. 

“I see the wisdom in your words,” the leader agreed. “We will speak with them and determine their wishes for ourselves.” 

“Of course. Elena, would you go and let them know that their presence has been requested down here?” Ric asked her. He chose her since she was a vampire and thus faster than most, but was less threatening than Damon. Plus the fact that she worked with them relatively often so they knew her better than Damon who had a full class load and thus, less time to take on added responsibilities.

Elena was back in less than five minutes and the elves followed minutes after her. The leader remained seated while the rest of the elves in his delegation rushed over to the newly restored elves and after a few minutes of soft conversation there were tears of joy and hugs abound. No one had any doubt what the elves would choose and upon seeing the smiles on the faces of the strangers, the leader was even more heartened. “Your wards are based in spirit magic, correct?” he asked, despite already knowing the answer. 

“For the moment yes,” Kai was the one to answer. “We are looking into ways to incorporate nature magic into them as well now that we have nature magic users in the school so as to make the students safer, but since the two types of magic aren’t compatible, it’s taking time to figure out.” 

“Perhaps we will be able to assist with that in the future,” the leader said. 

“We would welcome any assistance your people could offer,” Ric said sincerely. 

“Since the wards will not allow us to transport out, they will need to leave the boundaries to leave.”

“I will escort them if you wish,” Pandora offered to both Ric and the elf leader, knowing that they would be more comfortable with her. She was familiar enough with the species to recognize the signs of nervousness among the delegation. Only the leader seemed immune, which was likely why he was chosen to lead the group in the first place. 

“I thank you fair Fae,” the leader bowed and at Ric’s nod, Pandora led all of the elves save the leader back towards the gates. Once they were on their way, the leader turned back to Kai. “Now that our brethren are taken care of, I must ask if you would be willing to cleanse the remainder of our cursed so that we may bring them home.”

“I have no objection to the idea, but depending on how many there are it may take some time,” Kai told them. 

“Based on our reports there are two hundred and forty seven of our kind currently under the enslavement curse.” 

“If you can get them here I will take care of them as I can. It will likely take most of a year for me to cleanse that many alone, but I may be able to get some help if a few of them will volunteer to help me teach the few students with the same gift.”

“Will this teaching cause them any pain or distress?” the leader asked. 

“No, not at all. If it would, I wouldn’t suggest it. The worst they would feel is a general discomfort while we examine them. If you would like, I can demonstrate with you so that you can get an idea of how it would feel for them,” Kai offered. 

The leader narrowed his eyes thoughtfully as he considered the matter. This witch was greatly honored by his people and was freely offering of his time and talent to help more of their kind. If ever there was a witch he could trust it would be this one. “I will allow it,” he agreed. If he didn’t return home or was unduly harmed, war would fall on these people and he was relatively certain that they knew that. 

“Just give me your hand,” Kai reached out in offer and after an obvious hesitation the elf put his hand in Kai’s. “Hmm. That makes things so much easier,” Kai chuckled before he let go. 

The elf made an expression of distaste. “I see what you mean by discomfort, and as long as the cursed ones agree, you may teach your students.”

“I would not do so without their agreement anyway, so thank you,” Kai told him. “It would be very helpful for the students if there were an uncursed to examine as well. The difference in the magics between you would greatly speed their understanding. It took me many months to be able to find the curse without that comparison.” 

“I will ask for volunteers when I return,” the elf agreed. 

Pandora returned about that time and retook her seat. “They are safely away, honored elf.” 

The elf nodded his thanks before turning to Ric, having recognized him as the leader of their people. “Do we have your permission to use these premises for this purpose?” 

“As long as I can be assured that any disruption to the students will be minimal,” Ric told him. 

“Our cursed brethren can be unpredictable in these circumstances, so we would be happy to assign some of our people to supervise them and minimize the disruption to your students,” he offered. 

“Then I will gladly accept,” Ric nodded. “And so we understand each other, your people will not be limited to this building. You are welcome to access the grounds, join the school population for meals, or even mingle with the students. As long as their class and study time isn’t disrupted.”

“We will see how things go, but I thank you for your consideration. We will be in touch soon,” he nodded and got up. Ric waved everyone else off as he got up to escort the elf to the gates himself, leader to leader, hoping that it would gain them a bit more respect. 

Once the elf was gone, he let out a heavy breath and headed back to meet the rest of the senior staff heading back towards the main campus. He was just glad the elves came on a Saturday. Once he met up with them, he told Pandora, “I’m really wishing I’d asked you more about how to deal with elves,” he joked. 

“You did well,” Pandora told him. “I would have interjected if you hadn’t.”

“That was very nerve-wracking,” Kai said as the only other one who had really been asked to speak. 

“For them as well,” Pandora chuckled. “They were as nervous as you were if not more so. This is likely the first time that any elves have left their hidden homeland in more than a thousand years.”

“They seem to know a lot about what is going on though,” Jo pointed out. 

“They gather intelligence by scrying, but they can only scry for their own kind, cursed or not. I have personally never met an elf either. Since the witches bound so many of their kind, they have been exceptionally reclusive. Every decade a small delegation of their closest allies are invited to their home in order to discuss the state of things and keep them up to date on the things they can’t see because they aren’t related to their cursed brethren. As such, all Fae are taught how to deal with them in case we are ever called to visit them.” 

“Are there other species that have been in hiding other than the Fae and the Elves?” Bonnie asked. 

“Many of them. While there are some from the species close enough to do so that hid among the witches in plain sight, most of every race carved out their own hiding places, primarily islands that they were able to secure,” Pandora explained. “I grew up among the Fae, but sensed my soulmate was a witch so when I was of age I went in search of him.”

“Can all Fae sense their soulmate?” Elena asked curiously. 

“They can. In fact, my Luna has already found hers here, though she hasn’t told them yet and isn’t likely to until they are older,” Pandora told them. 

“Can any other species sense their soulmates?” Emma asked. 

“As far as I know it is a uniquely Fae ability. Our magic resonates with the echo of our soulmate,” she explained. 

“That’s fascinating,” Ric said. “Can you tell us who Luna’s soulmate is so we can watch out for them?” 

“She has not even told me, save that there are two.”

“Two? Is that common?” Damon asked confusedly. 

“Not common, no, but it has been known to happen.”

“Would the three of them end up together or would she have to choose?” Kai asked. 

“Usually the three of them are all together, but occasionally when the soulmates are not Fae, they will ask the Fae to choose. It is not the ideal situation because a piece of the Fae will wither in the absence of the missing soulmate, but there is little one can do against free will,” Pandora said sadly, hoping that wasn’t the fate that awaited her daughter. 

“Hopefully it won’t come to that then,” Jo said worriedly.


	24. Chapter 24

Kai talked to Josie, Lizzie, and little Kai and all three of them offered to help the elves if they could. As such they were pulled out of the nature magic classes so that they would have time to do so without affecting their schoolwork. They could always come back to that subject later. They all had a decent enough understanding of it that helping living beings came first and since they could never actually /use/ the magic, they weren’t missing anything crucial. All three of them were advancing by leaps and bounds when it came to analyzing magic and siphoning contaminants without harming the innate magic, so he knew that they could do this, for all that they were more than a little nervous. This would be the first time for all of them that they were using it practically on another sentient being. 

It was a week before there was another delegation of elves at the gates, and since this one was for a purpose other than establishing relations, Ric didn’t take the entire senior staff. He and Kai were the only adults to meet them at the gates, though Kai had grabbed Josie, Lizzie, and little Kai to join them since they would be working with them as well. This time, they’d had a few lessons from Pandora on how to interact with the elves. Despite the fact that they wouldn’t expect those who had never known their race to understand their customs, now that they did, they would offer the respect they could. “Welcome and well met,” Ric said as he touched his fingers to his forehead, palm in and then lowered it in a salute type motion. 

“Welcome and well met,” the lead elf returned the gesture as they stepped through the gates. He also knew that what he’d done out of nerves last time was actually the correct way to do things for the elves. Speaking while walking was disrespectful to them. It signified not caring enough about the topics of discussion to speak face to face and give it your full attention. He led them to the same building as last time, and the leader, a different one this time, turned to them and asked, “Are living quarters available and ready upstairs for our people?” 

“They are. We have enough space for up to three hundred and fifty,” Ric told them. Normally this dorm would only hold two hundred and fifty, just like the witch dorms, but since the elves were small, they got smaller beds and put three to a room in the larger rooms that were set aside for older students. 

“That will be plenty,” he nodded his thanks and turned to the other elves and gave them a signal. A group of ten uncursed led a group of fifty cursed up the stairs, leaving the leader and one other elf in the room. Once that was done, he turned back to the rest of them and sat, which was the cue for everyone else to do the same. One of their customs was for the hosts not to sit until the guest did. Lizzie, Josie, and little Kai were watching Ric and Kai for cues and doing as they did, not wanting to mess up. Once they were all seated, he addressed them again. “We were able to get fifty of the cursed for the time being. The others are all actively enslaved and unable to leave their masters. We are working on ways to free them in order to bring them here, but there is not yet a viable plan. We wished to bring these now so that they did not find new masters between now and then.” 

“That’s understandable,” Kai nodded. 

“I am Erendriel. I am the commander who will remain here to watch over our people. This is Naexi. She has volunteered to be examined to assist your teaching,” he said. 

“It is an honor to meet you Erendriel, Naexi. I am Ric, the headmaster of the school. This is Kai, head of magical research,” Ric introduced himself and Kai as his superior. It would be Kai’s place to introduce his students as per the Elf hierarchy. 

“These are my students, Josie, Lizzie, and Kai,” he introduced. 

“You share the same name,” Erendriel asked confusedly. 

Thanks to Pandora they knew that elves never named a child with the same name as a currently living elf, so it was strange to them. “He is also my son. There is a common custom among humans for the first born son to carry his father’s name.” 

“I understand,” he nodded. “It is an honor to meet you Ric, Kai, Josie, Lizzie, Kai. I look forward to learning more of your customs during my time here.” Since they went to the trouble to learn and follow elf customs to greet them, it was the honorable thing to do to learn theirs as well. “Shall we get to work?” 

“I will leave you to it,” Ric said. “If you or your people need anything during your stay here, feel free to let me or any of my staff know.” 

“We thank you, schoolmaster and will do so,” Erendriel told him. 

Lizzie leaned close to Kai and whispered as quietly as she could, “Do you think they would be offended if we asked questions about them?” 

None of the kids noticed Naexi’s lips twitch in amusement, but they all heard Erendriel’s answer. “We will not be offended by honest questions, though we cannot promise to answer everything. One of our purposes here is to gain a greater understanding of your people and for your people to gain a greater understanding of ours.”

“Sorry,” Lizzie blushed brightly, having not realized that he could hear her. 

“We have much better hearing than most species,” Erendriel told her. “And it is considered offensive to exclude one from parts of a conversation in which they are included.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend,” Lizzie apologized again with a wince.

“It is no matter, child. I understand that your people have different ways and manners. I was not offended, but simply seek to educate,” he told her. 

“Thank you,” Josie spoke up for her twin. “We will remember that in the future.”

“There are some matters that we consider private and occasionally they become relevant, particularly in a teaching environment,” Kai explained. “Should that happen, we will need to take an aside to speak privately, but we’ll let you know we need a private moment first. Would that be acceptable?” 

“That would be an adequate compromise,” Erendriel nodded. “Are there any questions before we begin?”

“Why does Naexi not talk?” little Kai asked. He didn’t want to talk to her if she wasn’t allowed to talk to them and risk getting her or them in any trouble. 

Erendriel chuckled and looked at Naexi whose skin whitened. Judging by the look on her face it was the elvish version of a blush. When she didn’t answer Erendriel turned back to them and answered for her. “She is simply nervous. None of us have ever met anyone outside of our own people, and she’s not sure what to expect for her part of the examination.”

“Perhaps we should get that out of the way then to help ease her nerves,” Kai suggested. “Can we get a cursed volunteer so that they can feel the difference?” They might as well get that out of the way while they’re working. When Erendriel nodded at Naexi she bustled upstairs and returned a moment later with one of the cursed in tow. “Who wants to go first?” Kai asked the kids. It was a long moment before Josie volunteered. This part was examining magic. This they had done many times on many different people to practice. 

Josie held out her hand to Naexi first who seemed even more nervous than before. “It’s okay. It won’t hurt. I just need to hold your hand for a minute,” she said gently. When Naexi put her hand in Josie’s the girl closed her eyes. None of them had gotten past that particular habit yet. It made it easier for them to focus all their attention on what they were reading. 

Kai knew exactly what they would be looking for, having done this many times himself, so told her and the rest, “Focus on the individual strands of magic. The way they weave through each other. The thickness and color.” 

When Josie let go of Naexi’s hand after a few minutes, she reached for the cursed elf’s hand as she asked, “What’s your name?” 

“I’s Flopsy miss,” the cursed elf said as she put her hand in Josie’s as well. 

Josie closed her eyes and felt around Flopsy’s magic as well, noticing the differences right away since Kai told her where to find them already. “The strands are knotted and broken in places. They are duller and thinner.”

“Exactly,” Kai said proudly. Glad that she spotted the differences so quickly. “That’s where the corrupted magic has taken hold. Can you feel the difference in the taste of the magic?” When Josie nodded, Kai told her, “What we’re trying to do is pull away that contamination.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so the entire storyline with the elves was just supposed a be a 'this happened' blurb but it very much got away from me lol.


	25. Chapter 25

“What about fixing the strands?” Josie asked, not opening her eyes or letting go of the elf’s hand. 

“Their own magic will take care of the repairs once the contamination is gone. Right now, that’s what’s stopping it from fixing itself,” Kai explained. “Now just siphon that contamination off, but go slowly and try not to touch the pure magic.” 

“What happens if I do?” Josie asked nervously. She hadn’t realized they were going to try it so soon.

“It just takes slightly longer for their magic to repair itself and you end up with a bit more incompatible magic. Worst case scenario, you might need to go get a boost of compatible magic from someone. No one will be irreparably harmed if you make a mistake,” Kai assured her, leaving out the fact that if she took in too much of the incompatible magic she could end up in a magical coma as the magics fought in her body. The chances of it going that far were slim and he would notice well before then.

“Okay. I’ll try it,” Josie took a deep breath for calm before she began to siphon. She felt herself dip into the pure magic a few times, but pulled back immediately when she did. It took almost an hour before she couldn’t feel any more of the corrupted magic and she asked, “Did I do it?” 

“Why don’t you open your eyes and see sweetie?” Kai said amusedly. 

Josie opened her eyes and gasped. “I did it!” she said happily. “Thanks Uncle Kai!” 

Kai wrapped an arm around her shoulder and kissed her head, before holding out his hand to her. “Just to be sure,” he said. She put her hand in his and he did a quick check. “You’re good. But make sure you don’t do more than one a day so your system has time to cleanse the corrupted magic. Who’s next?” 

“I’ll go,” little Kai beat Lizzie to the punch. 

“I-I’ll take Flopsy back up and find another,” Naexi spoke for the first time, and all four of the witches smiled encouragingly at her. 

When she came down, there were three more with her now that they saw their friend and actually believed it was possible. Little Kai reached out for Naexi’s hand and she took it a little more confidently this time now that she knew that it wouldn’t hurt. It wasn’t exactly a pleasant feeling, but it wasn’t so bad. Little Kai took as long as Josie, about twice as long as his father, before he let go of Naexi’s hand and reached for the cursed elf. He took his time making sure he didn’t miss anything before he said, “I’m ready. Should I do it?” He needed to know that his dad knew that he was doing it and could be watching for any trouble. 

“Go ahead, kiddo,” Kai encouraged. It took a little longer for little Kai to finish before he opened his eyes and grinned. “Great job, buddy.” He reached his hand to his son, and this time frowned slightly when he analyzed the magic. “Make sure you get a boost of compatible magic tonight, and I don’t want you doing more than one every two days.”

“Aww, why?” little Kai whined. 

“Because you’re younger and your magical channels aren’t as strong as your cousins. It’s easier for you to overload them,” Kai said firmly. 

Little Kai sighed heavily but nodded and Erendriel chuckled. “It seems that’s one thing that elven children and human children have in common. The desire to push themselves to grow up too fast.” 

“I suppose some things are universal,” Kai chuckled with him, getting a half-hearted glare from his son as Josie and Lizzie giggled. “Lizzie, you ready to try?” 

“Okay,” she agreed reaching for Naexi’s hand first and about twenty minutes later a third elf was uncursed. 

After a quick examination of Lizzie’s magic he gave her the same instructions as Josie and reached for the last cursed elf that came down. “Would you like me to help you now?” he asked gently. The elf nodded so hard Kai wondered if his head was going to fly off as he put his hand in Kai’s. It only took Kai a little more than five minutes, being more experienced that the kids, before that elf was cured as well.

Naexi took the overwhelmed elves back upstairs as Kai asked the kids, “Do you want us all to start coming down here together after dinner or would you rather just come by whenever you have time during the day by yourselves?” 

“We can come by when we have time,” little Kai told them. “If that’s okay with you,” he added to Erendriel. 

“I have no objections as long as your teacher does not,” the elf told him, knowing that in this situation Kai was more his son’s teacher than father, so terming it that way. The children had proven that they could do it so there was no need for strict supervision. 

“That’s fine, but I still want you all to check with me at dinner on the days you participate for a little while, just so that I can make sure you’re not overdoing it,” Kai told them. 

“We promise,” Lizzie told him and the other two nodded. 

“I thank you all for your assistance in this matter. We have long awaited the day when we could bring our cursed brethren home,” Erendriel said solemnly.

“We’re just glad we can help. No one deserves to be enslaved this way,” Josie replied. 

“Now it is time for dinner though,” Kai said. “Will you be joining us in the dining hall?” 

“We have already eaten today. Our people eat one meal per day at midday. Some of us may join you tomorrow for your midday meal if they wish to,” Erendriel told them. “But they may prefer to become more accustomed to our surroundings before venturing out.”

“I will ensure that someone stops by before the meal to show anyone who wishes to come where we are,” Kai promised. 

When they got to dinner, the kids split up to their tables, little Kai making a beeline for his twin to tell him all about the elves and Kai headed to the teacher’s table and found a place next to Ric to update him on everything they’d learned about the elves and let him know how the kids did. Once he learned how well they did, he scanned the tables until he caught their eyes and gave each of them a proud smile and nod. 

Ric waited until dinner was wrapping up and people looked like they were getting ready to leave before he got up and moved over to the stairs to make an announcement. Once he had everyone’s attention, he started, “Some of you may know, but we have some guests on campus and they will be staying for a little while. The elves hid themselves away from the rest of the world more than a thousand years ago and this is the first time they’ve ventured outside their home since then. As such, we want to make them feel welcome. Their culture is different from ours so there are some things you will want to keep in mind if you see them around campus,” He went on to teach them the greeting and tell them what they already knew about their form of manners before he finished with, “They understand that our culture is different, and if you do or say something that they find offensive they will likely correct you so that you know for the future, but won’t take offense. I ask that you all do the same. Don’t take offense, but simply explain why their actions would be considered offensive to us. Feel free to ask them honest questions about their lives and culture, but be aware that they may not wish to answer all of them if they consider them too private or revealing. We hope that we can build a lasting friendship with their race, much as we build friendships with each other, so please keep this in mind. Are there any questions?” 

“Are we allowed to go visit them?” someone asked. 

“Much like your own dorms are your private space, so is the building they are in. The rules are the same. If you are invited, you’re welcome to go, but don’t just show up at their door. Mr. Bennett, Lizzie, Josie, and Kai are working with them to help siphon curses from some of their people so they will be coming and going, but we don’t want them overwhelmed with curious students.”

“But they’ll be around?” someone else asked. 

“I’m sure they will in time, but they might want a few days to adjust to being here first. When they do come out, try not to mob them. They will be here for at least a few months if not longer, so everyone will have time to speak with them if you wish.” 

“Why have they been hiding for so long and why come out now?” MG asked. 

“Mr. Bennett?” Ric said waving Kai up and giving him the floor. 

“A long time ago there was a war that went on for almost a hundred years between witches, elves, and a few other species. When the witches managed to create a type of magic that enslaved the elves in such a way that if they weren’t bonded in slavery to a witch they would die slowly and painfully, the elves cut their losses and retreated, hiding themselves away so that no more of their number could be lost to those types of curses. They considered that a fate far worse than death, as I’m sure you can all understand. As for why they came out now, I learned how to uncurse those enslaved elves and they want their family back so they approached me for help.”


	26. Chapter 26

The next day when little Kai showed up at the elves place to try and heal another elf, Erendriel refused him. “I clearly heard your teacher tell you to wait an extra day in between,” he told the boy firmly.

“I just want to help,” little Kai said petulantly. 

“I do understand, child, and I thank you for that, but how do you think the elf you heal will feel to know that their healing harmed you in the process?” Erendriel tried a different way. His sons were just as headstrong as this one at that age so he had plenty of experience. 

Little Kai sighed heavily. “Probably not good,” he admitted. 

“Exactly. We look out for our young ones just as much as your elders look out for you. In fact, harming a child is an automatic death sentence in our culture. If I were to intentionally allow you to come to harm, even to help one of ours, my life would be forfeit.” 

“I’m sure I’ll be okay though,” he tried to argue. 

“Perhaps you would. Perhaps not. It’s not a risk that can or should be taken for anything short of life or death. As long as your teacher, who knows this subject better than both of us, believes that there is a risk, we cannot allow you to take it. Understand?” 

“Yeah. I guess,” little Kai said sadly. 

“You are welcome to visit with us if you wish, though,” Erendriel offered which perked the boy up a bit and he took the elf up on the invitation. He had about half an hour free before lunch so he stayed until then. 

When Kai showed up to see if any of the elves wanted to join them for lunch, he found his son there and raised an eyebrow. Erendriel came to his rescue though. “He was simply visiting. We did not allow him to exert his magic by healing. He understands the need for the restriction.” 

Kai heard what wasn’t said in the apparently universal parent code. Little Kai had tried but they stopped him and gotten the point across that he wasn’t to go against his rules on the subject. “Thank you Erendriel. Were any of your people wanting to join us for the midday meal?” 

“Not today. My people are still much on edge being in a new place,” Erendriel told him. 

“I completely understand,” Kai told him and walked his son to lunch. He decided not to bring up the subject again and would instead wait to see if it was resolved. Now that he knew that the elves wouldn’t allow him to do more than he was supposed to, he didn’t feel the need to make an issue of it again unless it became one.

It was three days before any of the elves ventured out of their temporary abode and joined the school for lunch. They were told that they could sit anywhere they liked, and of the five most of them joined the teacher’s table, but two didn’t. “Naexi!” Lizzie called cheerfully. “Come sit with us.” She nudged Josie over making a space between them and Naexi joined them. She and the girls had gotten much closer during their visits so she wasn’t nearly as quiet anymore, but meeting new people and being in public was still more than a little jarring for her. It helped put her at ease quite a bit when the rest of the students at the small round table gave the traditional elvish greeting which she shyly returned. The other one that didn’t eat with the teachers was Erendriel who little Kai had taken a liking to and was eager to introduce to his twin, so waved the elf commander over to their table. 

After the reports of how kind and accepting the students were, more and more elves began venturing out, both for meals and simply to wander the school and grounds, taking care not to venture into the classroom areas while classes were in session. They had been there for just over a week when the first elf was involved in a violent altercation. Luckily for the students, the elf was only peripherally involved. When the wolf lost his temper and attacked the vampire, the elf was knocked to the ground and got kicked. MG blurred in and grabbed the elf, carrying her out of the line of fire, just as Damon blurred up, being the fastest of the teachers to get there. Damon grabbed the wolf by the back of his neck and tossed him a few feet to the side since everyone scattered when a wolf attacked out of pure preservation instinct. 

When the wolf tried to charge back, Damon stood between him and the vampire who was just getting up and placed a hand on the wolf’s chest. “Enough,” he said firmly. “Go work it off and see Mr. Lupin in his office after dinner.” When the wolf hesitated, Damon barked, “Now!” and the wolf scampered away. Damon then turned to the vampire, one of the newest kids and tilted his face up to see. “You weren’t bitten?” he asked. The full moon was the next night so it was theoretically close enough for a wolf to bite if he was angry enough, though the wolves knew better since the consequences were dire. Still, he needed to be sure. 

“No. He didn’t bite me,” Colin told him. 

“Okay. Good. Go get cleaned up, grab some blood if you need it, and see me in my office after dinner,” Damon told him before turning to the rest of the crowd. “Anyone else hurt?” 

“Osonia got knocked around a bit when the fight started,” MG spoke up, gesturing to the elf. 

“Are you alright?” Damon asked her. 

“I’m a little sore,” she admitted. “And I think I got scratched.” 

“I can take you to the infirmary just to check you over if you want?” Damon offered. 

“Alright. Thank you,” she said gratefully. 

“I’m sorry about that. Werewolves tend to get very testy and territorial close to the full moon. It’s in their nature. Sometimes, especially with newer students, they don’t understand that they need their space and someone gets rubbed the wrong way,” Damon told her.

“Will they be in trouble?” she asked, wondering how the school handled things with such different species with different needs. 

“Yes and no,” Damon shrugged. “They will both get a stern talking to for sure, and once we figure out how things got out of hand, it will depend on what actions are taken. If things were intentionally provoked then yes, there will be punishments, but if it was just a matter of not understanding each other well enough, we’ll educate them both to help prevent another incident.”

“That’s understandable,” Osonia nodded. 

“Here we are,” he told her before calling out, “Hey Jo!” 

“What happened?” she asked worriedly. 

“There was a scuffle and Osonia got knocked around a bit in the melee. We figured it would be a good idea for you to give her a once over and make sure she’s okay.” 

“Absolutely. Hop on up and we’ll take a look,” Jo said cheerfully. “Thanks Damon.” She didn’t even need to ask if he handled the situation. He was famous among the students for being a hardass in those types of situations. 

Damon nodded and headed out, going to visit the elves abode for the first time. He knocked on the door and Erendriel recognized him as one of the teachers and quickly invited him in. “Is something wrong?” the elf asked worriedly. Other than Kai the other teachers didn’t usually seek them out. 

“There was an incident. Everyone is okay, but I took Osonia to the infirmary just to make sure. She did get knocked around a bit,” Damon told him. 

“What happened?” the elf frowned, worried if there was violence being committed against his people. 

“I’m not sure how much you know about werewolves, but they get pretty testy the closer it gets to the full moon as their animal side comes to the forefront. Most especially they get testy with vampires, since they are instinctual enemies. One of the wolves lost control of his temper and attacked a vampire student and she just happened to be too close. One of the other vampire students used his speed to get her out of the way of the fighters before I managed to break it up.” 

“So it wasn’t directed at her? She was just caught in the wrong place at the wrong time?” Erendriel asked to confirm. 

“Exactly,” Damon assured him. 

“Alright. Thank you for letting us know. I’ll tell the rest of my people to be more careful around the werewolves near the full moon,” he said. 

“You’re welcome. And I’m sorry none of us thought to mention that before,” Damon told him. 

“It’s no matter. It is commonplace for you so it’s understandable that it’s not at the forefront of your mind,” Erendriel assured him. “If you have time, I would be interested in hearing more about how the school deals with such disparate groups.”

Damon nodded and sat down, ending up in a long discussion with the elf about how they try to integrate everyone and come up with common rules for common areas and the different methods used to enforce them. It wasn’t long into the conversation before Osonia came back and when Erendriel asked her she explained that she just had a bit of bruising and a scratch. She was full of praise for the vampire who pulled her out of the way and the way that Damon handled the situation with the students and took her straight to the infirmary. 

Damon mentioned the oversight to Ric and suggested a drill that night of the werewolf emergency system, realizing that the elves should be familiar with it in case it was needed. He explained the system to them, but practice always helped. Ric agreed and asked the teachers to spread out so that at least one was near every building on campus to explain to any elves in the area that it was a drill if needed. They knew that their students would know that it was a drill since it was still a night before the full moon, but announcing the drill would defeat the purpose of it. 

Roughly an hour after dinner the klaxon sounded over the whole grounds and everyone dashed for the nearest building. Ric had positioned himself closes to the elf dwelling for the purpose of the drill and they ended up with half a dozen students in there with them as Ric explained what was going on. “Don’t worry. The full moon isn’t until tomorrow. This is just a drill. A practice run. We have a few of these per year, but after the incident today, it dawned on us that you could probably use the practice as well just in case.”

“I see. That is wise of you. I do worry that others of my people are trapped in places and not aware that this is a drill though,” he said worriedly. 

“I thought of that too. I had the teachers spread out so there is at least one in every building for any elves that end up there to explain to them.”

“I hadn’t yet made an announcement to my people about the meaning of the alarms,” Erendriel pointed out. 

“I’m sure that any that were out and about were rounded up by students and taken to a nearby building, but if not, there are those that can handle transformed werewolves whose job is to be out on the grounds searching, both for the missing wolf and anyone else caught outside to get them to safety. They’ll find anyone that happened to be missed.” 

“Who all is out there searching?” the elf asked, now more curious than worried. 

“The only two wolves on campus that retain their human mind when they transform and can transform at will, the werewolf head teacher and Hope Mikaelson, a senior student, along with two teachers with a spirit animal form that is large and strong enough to subdue a werewolf, Sirius Black and Emma Tig.”

“And how does this lockdown work?” Erendriel asked, only having gotten the basic information from Damon earlier before Osonia came back. 

“Five minutes after the klaxon sounds every building on campus is surrounded by a magical barrier designed to expel transformed werewolves if there are any in the building and not allow anything in or out. The same wards without the expulsion component also spring up around the grounds to keep the werewolf contained so that it doesn’t escape into town. There is also a steel reinforced door to an underground cellar that doesn’t get locked down for any students who are trapped outside to get into.” 

“And if the werewolf is already outside the grounds?” 

“No system is perfect unfortunately. If the werewolf is already outside the grounds there’s little we can do, but all of our wolves know that as bad as the punishment is for not checking in on a full moon night, it’s nothing compared to leaving the grounds for the full moon,” Ric told him. 

“Understandable,” Erendriel nodded. They did everything they could to protect people and realized that there were some things that were just beyond anyone’s control.

Since it was just a drill, the lockdown was lifted after an hour, once the search showed that there was no one left outside, and everyone went on about their days. As Ric predicted, any elves that didn’t know what the sound meant were grabbed by the students who did know and the drill was considered a success. All of the elves, once it was explained, were glad for the test run. It made them feel much more secure being on campus the night of the full moon.


	27. Chapter 27

Back in Britain, things were in shambles. The death of Dumbledore divided magical community even more than it already was, made all the worse by the mass prison escape that the distraction and confusion made possible. Everyone was blaming someone and battle lines were being drawn. By the time the three Lestranges had found Voldemort’s spirit and resurrected him, the entire community was a powder keg waiting to blow. And blow it did. By the end of February Voldemort had control of the entire magical government and there were mass executions. In April he attacked the ICW conference and killed all of the delegates. From there Europe was easy and he had the entire continent under his thumb by the end of May while the last of the house elves were being healed and sent home to the elf community. 

While the pureblood supremacists were away fighting for the cause, the elves manipulated the lesser family members to free their elves. Those elves owned by non-supremacist families were soon freed due to the execution of the family and they were grabbed up then. A few were freed and left behind as their families fled Britain, the most common destination being Australia and since house elf slavery was outlawed there they couldn’t take their elves with them. Needless to say, by the time Voldemort was finished with his campaign there were no house elves left in the world. 

Unfortunately, once he had all of Europe under his thumb, Voldemort turned to unfinished business. Harry Potter in particular. Thanks to Dumbledore’s sensational trial, his location was public record. A school in the states called the Salvatore School. Voldemort gathered his much expanded army, wishing he could have gotten more vampires and werewolves, but not particularly worried about it. Even a handful of vampires and werewolves would be more than a match for a group of barely trained witches and wizards. 

By the time they marched on the school, he had two hundred death eaters, thirty vampires, twenty five werewolves, and a hundred dementors. They made a massive show of force at the gates and Voldemort used sonorous to get the attention of those inside. He promised to leave everyone else alone if they handed over Harry Potter. He gave them one hour to comply. 

Ric got the reports of the numbers at the gates and knew that there was only one thing he could do. The one thing that he swore that he would never do. He closed his eyes and tried his best to think of another solution, but he had nothing. He was pulled out of his near trance by Damon’s hand on his shoulder. “You know there’s no other way,” Damon said, hating this just as much as Ric did. Ric looked around the table at the other teachers and got grim nods from all of them. 

They had just been sitting down to dinner when it happened so most of the student body was present and more than a little nervous. They didn’t have the information that the teachers did though. The wards didn’t tell them what was out there. Ric got up, feeling much older than his years and addressed the student body. “I want all lower school students to return to their dorms. All human teachers go with them,” he said evenly. He waited until they were clear before he addressed the rest of the students. “There is an army at the gates. They are here to kill one of our own. One of our most precious youngest students. It is our job as your teachers to protect you, but we can’t protect you from this. Not alone. We need your help. I will not force anyone to fight. I hate simply asking it of you. Anyone who wants to help calm and protect the younger students from behind their lockdown is welcome to go now.”

Ric paused for as many of the students to leave as wanted to, but very few went. Bonnie and Kai begged the twins to go, but they refused. They’d been taught offensive magic since they could walk. They were as good of fighters as any senior students and unfortunately Bonnie and Kai knew it so they didn’t have a leg to stand on. They could at least make sure that the twins were in their group so they could at least try to protect them. Damon whispered something to Elena and she blurred out of the room. Once the minor exodus ended, mostly sixth through eighth graders that didn’t know much if any offensive magic, they were left with more than three quarters of the upper school that wanted to fight. 

“You are all exceptional students. Exceptional people. No matter the outcome here, I am proud to have known each and every one of you. Your courage and perseverance is evident in every obstacle you have overcome to get here. I believe in each and every one of you. I believe that we can win this fight. We /will/ win this fight. Together we can beat any enemy. Thank you all,” Ric said as he stepped down to cheers. 

As the cheers died down, Damon raised his voice, “Combat teams form up on this side of the hall!” 

“Looks like you get your free for all final exam after all,” Ric said sadly. 

“Not the way I would have wanted it,” Damon shook his head ruefully. 

“Not the way any of us would have wanted it,” Ric agreed. “I wonder how many of our students we will be burying tomorrow.”

“You can’t think like that Ric,” Bonnie said. “We have to face this fight right now. We can’t worry about tomorrow until tomorrow comes.”

By that time all of the combat teams from Damon’s classes were together, and Bonnie and Jo took their turns. “Anyone else who knows offensive or battle magic group up over here,” Bonnie called. 

“Anyone who knows medical or first aid magic who isn’t in one of those two groups over here,” Jo called. 

“And anyone who is left, please join the lower school students,” Ric said which cleared out most of the rest of the lower grades. 

About that time, Elena came back in with a large bag and started handing out the amulets that witches used during Damon’s class that increased their durability. She started with the youngest students and worked her way up. Bonnie had made fifty of the amulets, thinking there would be plenty for the classes and there were. There just weren’t enough for this. When she got to the combat teams, there were only a handful left and they all refused them. “We trust our teammates to protect us,” one of them told her. “Make sure everyone else has one first.”

Elena nodded and gave them all a proud smile and moved on to the few upper years who weren’t part of the combat teams, which was just Landon and Wade. Jo and Ric as humans got them, and the last two went to the two magical doctors that were with the medic group. She told Ric as she gave him one of the amulets, “I called Stefan. He and Caroline are getting Xeno and Pandora and they’ll be ready to move once the gates are breeched and we have them busy, but if they try to get in now they’ll get picked off.”

“Thank you, Elena. Every person we can get here is that much more protection for the students,” Ric said gratefully. About that time there was a flash of fire and a red bird flew around the hall trilling a song of courage and strength before landing at the top of the stairs and turning into his human form and motioning Landon up with him. 

Once everyone was organized they had about twenty minutes left, so Sirius stepped up to the stairs at Ric’s nod. “You all need to know what you’re facing. These witches will stop at nothing to kill anyone who gets in their way. Their spells come as jets of light, but if you’re fast enough you can dodge them or throw up a barrier against them.” He and Remus had tested their barrier spells and they worked far better than any shield spell their wands could cast. They even tested it against the unforgivables. Each spell that hit took a bit of energy from the witch though so they could only hide under them for so long hence the reason for fighting. “You especially want to avoid any green lights. That’s known as the killing curse and it does just what you think. It will kill you instantly, even werewolves, and probably even vampires, though it’s not been recorded either way. Whatever you do, do not let a green light hit you. Don’t let any of them hit you if you can help it, of course, but definitely not that one.” 

When Sirius started to step down, Remus moved over and hissed at him, “Dementors, Sirius.” 

“Oh! Right,” he jumped back up. “The black cloaked flying things out there…those are dementors. They suck away all your hope and happiness and make you super cold. If they grab you they will give you what’s called the dementor’s kiss. It will suck out your soul and essentially kill you. Again, werewolves and vampires are not immune. I don’t know if they are susceptible to anything we can do here, so if worse comes to worse just trap them in barrier domes and we’ll have to hope for the best.”

“Don’t worry about the dementors,” Hephaestus said. “Landon and I can keep them corralled. Just keep them away from yourselves.” Landon nodded gravely and stood tall by his ancestor’s side. 

“They’re coming,” Ric called. “Let’s go.” The combat teams led by Damon exited the hall first followed by the rest of the fighters including the phoenixes, and then the medics.


	28. Chapter 28

The first place the first group went was to the lower school to place the strongest barriers they could over the building before Kai took his sons, Josie and Lizzie over and cast a cloak over top of that. If they all died, the barriers would fall, but the cloak wouldn’t so they would just have to wait it out. The cloak wouldn’t protect from magic flying around though so the barriers were just as important. 

Once the little ones and non-combatants were as protected as they could make them, the entire group gathered on the front lawn. The combat teams dispersed themselves among the rest of the fighters to offer support and the medics stayed back closer to the school building. Landon and Hephaestus positioned themselves to the side ready to intercept the dementors. 

Once they were all ready, Damon, who had taken overall command given his military experience and the fact that he had personally trained all of the combat teams, gave the signal to drop the wards. They were going to fall soon enough anyway and if they broke, every witch teacher that had contributed to them would be knocked for a loop and out of the fight for a good few minutes and that could prove fatal. Plus, by dropping them suddenly, they had the element of surprise and were able to launch their first attack before the enemy switched their mindset from attacking wards to attacking people. 

As soon as they saw the wards go down, the attack was on. The entire first row of death eaters went down in less than a second from half a dozen battle spells cast at the same time. By the time they hit the ground, the first wave of vampires hit the group and were ripping throats out as fast as they could see. Unfortunately it just went downhill from there. The attacking vampires were all much older making them stronger and faster than the student and three of them were lost before the witches caught up and started putting them down. By then the school vampires had retreated back behind the line. The attacking vampires were too fast for the witches to hit unless they stayed still for long enough. Even Damon could barely keep track of them, but he did his best.

Thankfully the werewolves worked the opposite way. Younger wolves were stronger and faster than their elders and given the fact that Remus and Hope could both change at will, they were tearing the wolves apart. Remus’ only regret looking back would be the fact that it was Hope who managed to rip Fenrir Greyback’s throat out. In the end, upon seeing how badly the vampires were trouncing them, Hope and Remus switched their attentions there and started biting anything moving faster than their own vampires could. It may take them a few days to die, but it would burn badly enough to make them hesitate and give their friends a chance to get the upper hand. That tactic did risk them getting their own vampires in the process, but there was plenty of the cure on hand so the risk was manageable. 

During all this the death eaters were throwing spells left and right and the combat group witches soon split between the offense trying to track and distract the vampires long enough for their own to rip out hearts and the defense blocking the death eaters’ spells. The siphoners were spending most of their time on defense absorbing as much of the magic flying around as they could and soon found themselves breaking into teams. Due to the link between little Kai and Gabe they became one of the most deadly duos on the field. They could read each other’s minds and with little Kai siphoning any spell sent their way and Gabe throwing battle magic around like confetti they were cutting a swath through the death eaters. Kai and Bonnie were working much the same way and were just as deadly. What they lacked in the telepathic ability they made up for in experience. 

Landon and Hephaestus were using their phoenix fire that Landon had just learned how to access to keep the dementor’s herded away from the main fight, but it didn’t take long for the death eaters to notice that their best weapon was being marginalized and started taking shots at the two phoenixes, but Josie and Lizzie put a stop to that quickly, each picking a phoenix to protect. It put them close enough to the dementors to get the effect, but they stayed strong. None of the siphoners were sure if their ability would hold up to the killing curse, so when that one was thrown they used the barrier shield, but everything else was plucked right out of the air. Kai had long taught them all how to infuse their entire bodies with the power so any spell that hit them just dissipated. 

About five minutes into the fight, backup arrived, and far more backup than they had expected. In addition to Stefan, Caroline, Xeno, and Pandora, there was an entire cadre of elves rushing the army from behind. Pandora quickly found Wade and grabbed him to go help with the dementors. “They’re susceptible to fae magic,” she told him. 

“And elf magic,” Erendriel added, taking half of his troops across to help the phoenixes with the dementors. All they could do was corral them, but the fae and elves were able to kill them. That freed Josie and Lizzie up to get back into the main fight. As the number of dementors decreased Landon was able to pay more attention to the main fight and when he saw Hope get hit with a red light that pulled screams of agony from her, his attention faltered and he was only saved from the cutting curse taking off his head by Hephaestus pulling him out of the way. He still got a nasty gash on his cheek and the combination of the pain and hearing Hope’s screams was enough to bring his wings forth. 

When Hephaestus saw the fiery wings sprout from Landon, he knew how they could better help this battle. Now that the fae and elves had the dementors under control, he took Landon’s hand and pointed up, pulling his own fiery wings into being. He helped keep the younger phoenix steady as they rose and landed on the roof of the school. “Sing with me, child,” Hephaestus told him and they both began singing an ancient war ballad that Hephaestus had taught Landon in their practice sessions. They projected strength and courage to their friends and weakened the enemy with fear. 

Between the phoenix song and the addition of Stefan and to a lesser degree, Caroline, they soon turned the tide against the enemy vampires. They were slowed enough by their fear for the witches to get a bead on them and crumple them in pain long enough for one of the other vampires or werewolves to take their heart. About twenty minutes since the start of the battle the enemy side only consisted of Voldemort and the death eaters and there were only about twenty of the latter left. When Voldemort attempt to call the retreat, Damon wasn’t about to let that happen. He blurred up behind him and ripped his throat out with his teeth.

The rest of the group didn’t stop fighting either. Retreat or not, these monsters had attacked their school. They could be left to try again. By the time Voldemort fell, so too had the last of the death eaters, most of them having been cursed in the back. While the active wards had been taken down, the passive ones were still up blocking them from apparating away, so they were making a run for the gates. Landon and Hephaestus switched their song to one of peace and hope in the aftermath as they slowly lowered to the ground. 

As Voldemort’s body hit the ground, Bonnie noticed a black cloud forming into a face gathering above it and she was quick to trap it in a barrier spell. “What is that?” she asked disgustedly. 

“Soul magic,” Kai realized. “It feels almost exactly like what I removed from Harry when he first got here.” 

“How do we get rid of it?” Elena asked, blood still dripping down her face from all the throats she had ripped out. 

“We have to dispel his anchors,” Kai told them. “I’m not sure how yet. How long can you hold him in this, Bon?” 

“I don’t know. A few hours maybe?” 

“Okay. I’ll run and see what I can find quickly,” Kai promised, pressing a quick kiss to her lips before running full speed back to the school. 

“You’ll be okay here?” Elena asked, looking back at all the triage going on worriedly. 

“I’ve got it. Go help them,” she told her best friend. 

Elena rushed over just as Damon bit his wrist open and made Sirius drink. He’d taken a bludgeoner to the back. He would never have walked again without it. She noticed Stefan feeding one of the witch students his blood as well and there was so much blood surrounding her on the grass. Just as she was trying to figure out what she could possibly do to help, she heard Jo calling her. “This one isn’t going to make it unless…” Elena didn’t even wait for her to finish before she bit her wrist open. 

The next thing they heard was a familiar voice yell out, “What the ever loving hell?!” and they all turned to see the sheriff standing at the broken gate with a look of shock on his face and his gun in his hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was my first real try writing a full battle scene. What did you guys think?


	29. Chapter 29

Ric, limping with his arm hanging loosely at his side and covered in blood, hobbled his way over towards the sheriff. “We were attacked by an army from overseas,” he explained, not really sure what else to say.

“Wh…ho…I…why?” Matt finally settled on a question. 

“It’s going to sound stupid, but a prophecy of all things. Apparently, there was an evil dark witch over there gathering power and one of our youngest students was prophesied to be able to stop him. He brought his army here and demanded that we hand over the eight-year-old boy to slaughter.”

“Yeah, that’s not an option,” Matt agreed disgustedly. 

“That’s what we said,” Elena came up and smiled at her old friend before telling Ric. “Get over to the medics. I’ll handle this.”

“They have their hands full keeping people alive. I can wait,” Ric argued. 

“Everyone that’s still alive is stabilized now. Go,” Elena ordered. 

Ric sighed and did as he was told so Matt asked, “Is this something that’s going to happen again?” 

“Not likely,” Elena told him. “His entire army is dead, his body is dead, and we currently have his spirit trapped until we figure out a way to kill that too.” 

“Umm…okay…do you guys need any help up here? Doctors or something?” Matt asked. 

“I’m not sure,” Elena said before calling back. “Hey Jo, do we need to let any other doctors in on the secret to help or can you handle it?” 

“We’ve got it,” Jo called back. It was a good thing that half of her potential patients had speedy healing, or they would have had to call more people in.

“How many students were lost?” Matt asked sadly as he took in the number of young bodies strewn across the lawn. 

“We don’t know yet. We haven’t gotten that far. Too many,” Elena said trying her best not to think about it right now. 

“Even one is too many,” Damon said sadly, wrapping his arms around her from behind and giving Matt a respectful nod as he leaned his head against Elena’s, soaking up the comfort he could while there was a quiet moment. His face and lips were still dripping blood as well, but even Matt didn’t flinch at that for once. He had gotten in that state protecting hundreds of kids. He wasn’t going to fault any of them for anything. 

“Well if you need anything, even just some help notifying parents, just let me know,” Matt offered before leaving them to their cleanup.

Since Kai and Bonnie were involved with working on the final end to this war, Damon and Elena turned their attention to their shellshocked godsons who were sitting on the front steps in a daze. They sat down on either side of them and pulled them both close. They were twelve years old and they’d killed many times over today and it was really starting to hit them. “Have you two seen a medic? Are you hurt at all?” Elena asked them. 

“I don’t think so?” little Kai asked more than said. Gabe wasn’t speaking at all. 

Elena gave Damon a look and he nodded before getting up and blurring over to Jo. “Hey, do you have anyone you can spare for a minute?”

“What’s up?” she asked wondering if she missed someone. 

“The boys are in shock and can’t even tell us if they’re hurt or not. If someone can just give them a quick once over for our peace of mind…” 

“Yeah, absolutely,” Jo said before looking around to see who was easiest to spare. She would go herself, but with a non-responsive patient in shock she would need more tests than were practical at the moment. A magical diagnosis was the best bet. “Harris!” she called, seeing that he was just finishing up with a gash on Wade’s shoulder. She jerked her head towards Damon when he looked at her and he got up and rushed over. 

Little Kai had a cracked rib and three more bruised, while Gabe had deep cut on his thigh. Harris cast a few healing spells over them both but warned that little Kai’s ribs would be tender for about a week while they finished healing. There was only so much they could do in that area without affecting the heart and lungs. When they still didn’t snap out of it, Damon told Elena, “I really need to stick around and help with the cleanup. Could you…”

“Yeah. I’ll take them. Make sure you let Kai and Bonnie know I’ve got them when they’re free,” Elena told him. 

“I will,” Damon promised. He’d already sent the surviving vampires back to the dorms with orders to have some blood, clean up, and go to bed. In that order. There was way too much blood splattered all over the grounds and everyone here for him to be comfortable exposing such young vampires any more than they had to. Now that the battle was over and they were out of throats they could acceptably rip out, it was too much of a risk having them here. 

Seeing that the medical side was under control and other than offering his blood to the dying, he was pretty much useless there, he started gathering the dead. The enemies were just tossed in a pile to one side for disposal later on while the friendlies were lined up on the lawn. Stefan and Caroline came to help him before long. While they weren’t as familiar with the students as Damon was, the fact that they were all wearing their school uniform while the enemy were all wearing robes made the sorting a simple job. 

By the time that was done, Kai was running back out of the school to where Bonnie was still holding Voldemort’s spirit. “Can you move that?” Kai asked her. 

“Sure. Where do you want it?” Bonnie asked him. 

“Let’s move him to the back of the buildings. I found a ritual that will dispel all of his soul anchors. It requires vial of freshly spilled innocent blood and given the prophecy I think it would be best to be on the safe side and use Harry’s if he agrees, but I don’t want him to see all this carnage.”

Bonnie nodded and began moving the sphere that the spirit of Voldemort was trapped in behind the school while Kai went to take down the cloaking spell and barrier around the lower school. He took Harry out the back door before putting the barrier spell back up. Just until the cleanup was done. He didn’t want any of the kids to come out and see that. 

Harry easily agreed to do whatever they needed him to do and Kai set up the candles and drew the runes on a stone slab before he asked Harry for his hand. He pulled a cut down the boy’s palm and asked him to drip the blood on the runes and make sure he hits all of them in order. As soon as the first drop fell, Kai began to chant and the black spirit began to lighten. By the time the blood covered the last rune, Kai was finishing his chant and the spirit had disappeared. Kai reached over and did a quick healing spell over the cut on Harry’s hand making it as good as new. “Thank you, Harry. You did perfect,” Kai said gratefully as his exhaustion set in. He’d used too much of his own magic and taken in too much incompatible magic and his system was having trouble centering itself. 

“I’ll take him back. You go find someone or something to siphon,” Bonnie told him. She didn’t have much left herself and she could bet that a lot of the witches if not all of them were the same, so it was probably going to end up being siphoning from the walls. 

Kai headed inside to do just that, finding that he wasn’t the only one. Josie and Lizzie were both standing there with their hands on the walls too. “Incompatible magic overload?” Lizzie guessed with a chuckle as he joined them. 

“Big time,” Kai replied with a smile. 

A few minutes later they were heading back outside just as Bonnie was coming back from the lower school and Damon met up with them. “I just wanted to let you know that Elena took little Kai and Gabe to our place. They were in shock pretty bad, but we got their injuries all healed.”

“What injuries?” Bonnie asked worriedly. She had managed to spare a glance to make sure that they were still standing afterwards, and Kai had done the same, but that was about all they had managed to do. 

“Gabe had a pretty nasty cut on his leg and little Kai had some busted ribs. They’ll still be tender for a week or so, but the worst of it is fixed,” Damon assured them. 

“Oh god. I’m a horrible mother. I didn’t even check on them after…” she trailed off as she choked up too much. 

“I didn’t either,” Kai pointed out feeling just as horrible as she was. 

“You were both busy with jobs that couldn’t wait,” Damon reminded them. “This is why the boys have godparents remember? We took care of it when you /couldn’t/. Not didn’t. /Couldn’t/.” 

Bonnie let go of Kai and wrapped Damon in a bruising hug. “Thank you, Damon. So much. Elena too.” 

Kai reached a hand to Damon’s shoulder and said a solemn, “There aren’t enough thanks in the world for this, brother.” 

“We have each other’s backs, little brother. Always,” Damon reminded him as Bonnie finally let him go. 

“I let the rest of our kids know that we’re all okay when I went to get Harry,” Kai told him. 

“And I did it again when I dropped Harry back off,” Bonnie chuckled. 

As if by prior agreement, all of the staff still standing gathered back at the front doors. Ric had his arm in a sling and was leaning on a stick as a makeshift cane, but he refused to go anywhere just yet. Once they were all there, Jo started off, “With one exception,” she glared at her husband, “Everyone who still needs to recover has been moved to the infirmary.” 

Ric had one major question before he would follow his wife’s orders and he looked straight at Damon. He had noticed him gathering the bodies. “How many?” 

“Thirty two students. Eighteen vampires, eleven witches, and three wolves. Two staff members, Emma and Bryce, and twelve elves,” Damon said gravely. 

Ric closed his eyes as a few tears leaked out anyway, but his were far from the only ones. There was a long moment of silence before Ric found words again. “Damon will you…” he cleared his throat around the lump in it. “Will you take care of…”

“I’ve got all under control brother. You go rest and heal up,” Damon assured him. 

Once Jo had helped Ric inside, Bonnie turned to Damon. “What do you need us to do?”


	30. Chapter 30

“I think we all need to rest tonight. We’re gonna need the witches help to conjure up enough coffins to get the bodies moved and they’re all running pretty much on empty. Can someone go let the elves know that they’re welcome to bunk down in their old rooms for the night? If they want or need to leave to handle their dead, can you ask them to send a representative to talk to Ric tomorrow? I know he’ll want to talk to them.” 

“I’ll do that,” Kai offered, having the best relationship with the elves. 

“Do any of you have enough left in you to cast a spell to keep the bodies from decomposing overnight?” 

“I can manage that. It’s a simple enough spell,” Bonnie offered. 

“We need to get the attackers’ bodies burned…”

“Amy and I can take care of that,” one of the teachers told him. 

“Okay, and I’ll need someone to lower the barrier around the lower school and then raise it again one more time. I need to let them know that they’ll be in lockdown until about lunchtime tomorrow and let the older kids out to go back to their dorms and make sure they’ve got what they need for breakfast and…” And get hugs from my kids, he didn’t say, but he was sure everyone knew that. 

“Remus and I can handle that. We want to check on Harry too,” Sirius told him. 

“Okay, then we all have our jobs and then hit the hay. We’ll deal with the rest in the morning,” Damon told them and they split up to do them. 

Once the barrier was down, the three men stepped in and Damon was immediately buried under frantic kids while Sirius and Remus were in a group hug with Harry. “Where’s mom? Is she really okay too?” Damien asked. 

“Your mom is fine. She’s taking care of Gabe and little Kai and they’ll be fine too.” 

“They’ll /be/ fine, but they’re not now?” Carrie asked worriedly. 

“You, little lady, are too smart for your own good,” Damon teased and booped her nose, trying to lighten the mood, but it didn’t work very well. “They were a little hurt but they’re already healed. They’re still a little freaked out over what happened though and probably will be for a few days at least, so yes. They will be fine.” 

Once he had hugged all five of their brood at least twice, he said loudly enough for everyone to hear, “I think it’s time for everyone under the age of eleven to head to bed.” It took a few minutes for all of the kids to head that way before Damon turned to the rest of the kids. “You can all head back to your dorms now, MG hold back a second.” Once MG was the only student left in the room he told him. “When you go out that door, I want you to run as fast as you can straight back to the dorms and don’t come out until either myself or Elena says you can, okay?”

“It’s that bad?” he asked with a wince. 

“It was a bloodbath,” Damon said bluntly. He needed the ripper to be prepared for the overwhelming scent of blood that no one had the strength to clean up tonight. The blood that he and the others were covered in was bad enough and he could already see MG visibly struggling.

MG nodded. He hated being the only vampire in the school that had to sit out the fight, but he was as much of a risk to his friends as he was to the enemy in that kind of fight. “I’ll grab some of my blood on the way up. That should help.”

“Yes. It will. Just try not to breathe until you get inside the dorms, okay?” Once MG disappeared, Damon turned to the rest of the teachers. “We’re gonna put the lockdown back up once we leave. Do you have what you need to get the kids breakfast here in the morning?”

“Yeah, we’ll be fine,” they assured him as the other two witch teachers, the last ones left for the lower school came in. 

“We lost Emma and Bryce in the fight,” he told them. “And too many students, but we’ll go into more detail on that tomorrow. The students will be locked in this building until at least lunchtime when we get the bodies cleaned up. Be prepared for plenty of nightmares tonight and get as much rest as you can,” Damon told them, waiting until they all nodded before he headed out followed by Sirius and Remus. The barrier went back up as soon as they cleared the door. Apparently, Amy and Jeff had enough left in them for that much. 

When Damon got back to his rooms, he found Bonnie and Kai slipping out quietly. “The boys are sleeping. We didn’t want to wake them. We’ll come get them in the morning.” 

“That’s fine. Night guys,” Damon told them as he headed in. When he got into the bedroom, he found Elena asleep with one of the boys curled up to either side of her. They had all been cleaned up first at least. And now it was Damon’s turn. He stripped his bloody clothes off and jumped in the shower. By the time he got out wearing nothing but a pair of sweatpants, Elena had woken up and was watching him with a sad smile. He returned it and slipped into bed quietly on the opposite side of Gabe and reached across to run a hand through little Kai’s hair before letting himself pass out. 

The next morning Damon and Elena woke up a little later than usual and found the twins gone from the bed. They found a note from Bonnie that the twins were with her and Kai so they breathed easy. Twenty-four hours ago it wouldn’t have mattered. They would have been safe at the school. Right now though they were all more than a little on edge. They took the time to have some coffee and wake up before heading out to help with the cleanup. 

When they got to the front of the school, they found people hard at work already. The thirty-four coffins for their fallen had already been conjured and there were a lot of tears as the students and teachers alike put their friends in them. A few more witches were casting the spells to clean the blood from the lawn. Another group was working to get rid of the ashes and scorch marks from where the attackers’ bodies were burned. Still more were working to repair the damage. They noticed that Kai and Bonnie were directing the efforts. 

“You should have woken us,” Elena told them. 

“Damon, you took charge last night and did what needed to be done. Elena, you took care of my kids when I couldn’t. You both earned your chance to rest,” Bonnie told them. 

“Besides, there’s not much vampires can do right now aside from helping to move the coffins. This is all witch work,” Kai pointed out. 

“Yeah, okay. Just let us know when and where we’re needed,” Damon agreed. 

“Well since all the witch teachers are helping with the cleanup and all the human teachers are taking care of the little ones, we could use someone at the gates to meet the parents when they start arriving any time now. Apparently, Ric’s been up all night making notifications,” Bonnie told them. 

Damon sighed. “Let me go try and talk some sense into him first.” When he walked into Ric’s office, he found his surrogate brother sitting at his desk with his head in his hands. “Did you sleep at all?” 

“I tried,” Ric said hauntedly. “Every time I closed my eyes I saw their faces. These children that were entrusted into my care and I failed them. I kept rehearsing what I would say to their parents…what could I possibly say to make any of this okay.” 

Damon went over and sat on the desk, putting his hand on Ric’s shoulder. “It’s not okay, and it never will be. But in this case the truth is the best. We were under siege by an entire army. The students would have been in the fight no matter what we did. If we had tried to fight without them, we all would have died and left them defenseless. They fought to protect themselves, each other, and those younger than them who couldn’t fight.”

“I might have to steal that,” Ric huffed a slight laugh. 

“You’re welcome to it,” Damon told him. “Are all the notifications done?” 

“Yeah. I finished about an hour ago. Now I’m trying to think of what to say at the memorial this afternoon.”

“Brother, you and I both know you always speak best when it’s from the heart and off the cuff. You need to get some sleep now.”

“I can’t. The parents will be here soon and I have to deal with…”

“Nothing. You have to deal with nothing. The rest of us will take care of everything if something does come up and we need you, I’ll come wake you up,” Damon said firmly. 

“Fine, but I’m sleeping on the couch in here so I’m more easily accessible,” Ric reluctantly agreed. 

“Fine. As long as you get some sleep,” Damon told him. 

“I told everyone that the memorial is at three. I want the elves there too if possible. See if you can get a list of the names of their fallen. And I’ll want to meet with them afterwards…”

“We’ll take care of it, buddy. Just sleep,” Damon led him to the couch and gently pushed him down.


	31. Chapter 31

When Damon got back downstairs, he asked Kai if the elves were still here. “Some of them. The rest took their dead back home.”

Damon nodded and headed towards their dwelling. He knocked on the door, not sure if they were still sleeping and not wanting to wake them up if they were. The door was opened relatively quickly. Damon gave the elvish greeting to the elf he hadn’t met before. Once the pleasantries were exchanged, Damon told him. “I’m sorry for your losses.”

“And we are sorry for yours,” the elf nodded respectfully. 

“We are having a memorial service at three this afternoon. We would like to honor your fallen as well and invite your people to join us,” Damon told him. 

“That would be appreciated,” the elf agreed. 

“Do you have a list of the names of your fallen?” 

“I will write up the list and get it to you soon,” he agreed. 

“I’m sure it goes without saying, but you are welcome to join us for our midday meal in about an hour as well,” Damon told him before heading out. 

He met Elena at the gates just as the first of the parents began to arrive. The coffins were still spread on the lawn, but it had been decided to leave them there until after lunch when they would be brought into the hall for the memorial. The witches had gone above and beyond for their friends, and each coffin had a conjured wreath behind it with a large photo of the occupant at the center. As the work dwindled, more people were starting to gather around the coffins in tears. This was the scene the parents started walking into. 

By the time lunch rolled around, aside from the coffins, everything else had been cleaned up and the younger kids had been let out of their dorms. Elena went to get MG and tell him it was safe for him to come out now, and Damon stayed at the gate while everyone else went in for lunch. Since he didn’t need to eat and had already reassured his kids that he was okay, there was no need for him to go. Someone had to stay anyway. 

As soon as they went inside, a large group of the little ones descended on little Kai and Gabe hugging them tightly and babbling tears of relief. It wasn’t just their sisters and cousins though. The group also included Harry and Luna, the latter of which had fallen in with Steffi, Ser, and Lynn as her best friends. Luna clung to them the longest, but Elena was the only one who started to form a suspicion. She quickly decided not to share it with anyone other than Damon just yet. They would continue to watch for now. 

Once lunch ended, Kai and Bonnie took over at the gates while the vampires went to help with the muscle to move the coffins. The wreaths were taken with them and set up again in the main hall, lined across the front. The parents and the elves were let in first and had the seats at the front before the students came in. Ric had asked the older students to help look out for the little ones during it, not wanting to ban them from coming, so the youngest students were dotted among the older ones, Josie, Lizzie, and MG sitting with the Salvatore/Bennett brood joined by Jeremy, Stefan, and Caroline. Even Matt was attending, sitting at the back. 

When the time came, Ric was the first to get up and speak, having been woken up by Damon about half an hour earlier to get ready. The rest of the staff lined up solemnly behind him. “Last night we were faced with an army four hundred strong at our gates. While we always hope that we can protect our students from whatever comes for them, this was something that we couldn’t protect them from. Had we teachers gone out alone, even with the assistance from the elves, we would have all been killed and the children would have been left defenseless anyway. We had to make the difficult call and ask the students to fight with us. To stay close so that we could at least attempt to protect them.”

Ric paused to take a deep breath before continuing. “When we asked the students for help, those who were able to fight rose to the occasion. They showed courage, perseverance, and strength that those many times their age couldn’t have matched. They fought to protect each other and those who were too young to fight. Many of the students who didn’t yet have the skills to fight, worked with the medics to help save as many lives as possible. Some went to help protect and calm the young ones. We faced an army four hundred strong and we won. Every single student in this school went above and beyond and I couldn’t be prouder of each and every one of you.”

He closed his eyes for a moment against the wash of pain before opening them again to continue. “Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. There were those that didn’t make it. Even one life lost is too many and we lost so much more than that. We lost two of our teaching staff. Emma Tig and Bryce Lafayette. They died protecting our children, as they would have wanted. We also lost thirty-two of our students. Alyssa Chang, Piper Matthews, Kaleb Hawkins, Brock Andrews…” The list went on and he met the eyes of each of the parents that was present as their child was named. “In our hour of need, the elves came to our rescue. They have no children here. They had no truck in this fight. But they rushed in, without thought to themselves, to help protect /our/ children. Without their assistance we all would have been lost. We are in their debt and they have our deepest gratitude. They were not without their own losses though. Erendriel, Goren, Laiex…” Those names went on as well. “Would you like to say a few words?” he asked the elvish delegation. 

The current commander nodded and got up from the end of the row and walked to the front. “Thank you for the warm tribute,” he told Ric before turning to the assembled. “The headmaster was incorrect when he said that we had no truck in this fight. Until recently our people have been in hiding for more than one thousand years. When we came to this school for help, we were welcomed with open arms. By both the teachers and the students. They reached out a hand in friendship, learned our ways as we learned theirs…they gave us hope that there could come a day when we could rejoin the world in peace. As equals. We could not…would not…stand aside and allow harm to come to them if we could prevent it. Every one of my people would gladly lay down their lives in protection of these special children. That even one was lost is a great tragedy for all of our peoples.” 

From there, Remus stepped up and said a few words about each of the three werewolves who died, followed by Kai and Bonnie trading off to speak about the witches. Elena didn’t trust herself to speak and not break down, so Damon spoke about each of the vampires. Must as the others did, he told one funny or heartwarming story about each of them before he stepped back and Ric stepped up again to do the same for the two teachers that were lost. Everyone was invited for dinner and left the hall so that it could be reconfigured for the meal. Most of the students went back to their dorms or the common rooms, the elves and the parents mingled as they wandered through the ground floor. 

Kaleb’s father cornered Damon rather quickly. “My name is Frank. I’m Kaleb’s father. He spoke very highly of you.”

“He was an exceptional young man. I’m sorry for your loss,” Damon said sadly. 

“Thank you. Can you tell me…how it happened? Do you know?” Frank asked. They had all known that they would be getting these questions often. 

“Not exactly,” Damon admitted. “There was so much going on all at once. I know that he was killed by one of the attacking vampires. They were all hundreds of years old so much stronger and faster than even me. The witches were incapacitating as many as they could, but many of them were in their own fights…” Damon trailed off and sighed sadly. “I can tell you this. Kaleb was always a fighter. In every way. He was the first to stand up in defense of the other students in any situation. He was always going to be on the front lines fighting for them because he couldn’t be any other way. His strength and dedication were an inspiration to so many.” 

“Thank you,” Frank said with tears in his eyes. “We always tried to raise him to help others. To stand up for those who couldn’t stand up for themselves. To know that we succeeded in that…”

“You did,” Damon assured him. “You should be very proud of him. I know I am.” 

“I am too,” Frank nodded, tears streaking down his cheeks. “If you learn more details…”

“I’ll let you know,” Damon promised. 

“Mr. Hawkins?” MG came up hesitantly. 

“MG,” Frank turned and pulled him into a hug. “How are you?” 

“I should have been there. I should have fought. Maybe Kaleb would be…” MG sniffled.

Frank cut him off and pulled back with his hands on his shoulders. “Don’t do that to yourself son. What ifs never helped anyone. I know you well enough to know that you would have done all you could.”

“I wasn’t even there. I couldn’t even fight. I was locked away with the little kids…”

Before Frank could jump to any conclusions, Damon interjected. “Because you /had/ to be, MG. Because with your condition, you could have hurt our friends just as much as our enemies. You protected everyone by helping with the young ones and staying out of it. You have nothing to be ashamed of.” 

MG nodded and walked away, and Damon sighed sadly. He knew that it would take more than that one conversation to get it across to him. “What condition?” Frank asked curiously without blame. 

“He is what we call a ripper. It’s a rare condition in vampires where one taste of blood causes them to go on a blind rampage. Since our primary weapon is our teeth…”

“Then he did right by staying out of the fight,” Frank agreed. “I’ll go try to convince him of that.” That left Damon free for the next parent. Since the vampires were most likely to be disowned by their family there weren’t too many. Only five of the eighteen dead vampires had any family that would claim them.


	32. Chapter 32

Once all of the bodies that would be were claimed they were left with twenty students and both teachers to bury on the grounds. Elena came up with the idea to have a war memorial in the center of the new graveyard with the names of all of the fallen, including the elves. One of the human teachers offered to design it and they took him up on it gratefully. Jo suggested having all of the students write up what happened from their point of view. “I don’t know that I want them dwelling on it,” Ric said hesitantly. 

“They’re dwelling on it anyway, Ric,” Jo told him. “How could they not? This way they can get it out. Just tell them to write whatever they want. What they saw, what they did, how they felt, whatever is most important to them.”

“What does everyone else think?” Ric asked, not completely sold on it, but leaning towards it. 

“If nothing else it could help us identify who needs extra help to get over it,” Elena pointed out. 

“And could help us get a clearer picture of what happened too. Maybe even find some answers for the parents who want to know how their kids died,” Damon reasoned. 

“I know Bon and I have been talking to the boys about it, but most of the students don’t have that luxury. I think it will be good for them.”

“We should even have the little ones and those out of the fight do it. Talk about how they felt, their fears, worries, and so on,” Bonnie added. 

“Okay. We’ll do that then. I’ll call an assembly and make the announcement. Who should we have them turn the assignments in to?” 

“Whoever they feel most comfortable with. We’ll compare lists to make sure that everyone turned it in,” Dorian said thoughtfully, getting a nod from Ric. 

“We should also cancel classes for the last two weeks of the year,” Sirius suggested. “No one is going to be able to focus on anything else right now.”

“We should all stay available though. Office hours, being visible around the dorms, having a presence in the library, as much as we can,” Remus added. 

The assignments went well, though Damon, as the combat teacher, ended up getting about half of them. He was surprised that he even got about half the werewolves papers. Elena got a decent stack from the vampires that she was a sort of ‘nest mother’ for and their own kids. Kai got quite a few including Lizzie, Josie, and little Kai, while Gabe, Carrie, and Ser gave theirs to their mother. Bonnie got quite a few from her offensive magic students. The students who served as medics were relatively split up between Jo and Dr. Harris. The werewolves that didn’t go to Damon went to Remus. In all, everyone ended up with plenty, and quite a few students were called in for counseling based on what they wrote. 

There were about thirty students that they thought could use real counseling, ten of whom were going home for the summer, so their parents or guardians were contacted and recommendations made. Jo had a list of doctors and therapists with knowledge of the supernatural world so it was passed around, and Ric took a good look at it with the view of hiring one or more of them. The loss of Emma hit them hard in that department. 

MG had signed up to stay at the school for the summer, but Frank Hawkins showed up to talk to him. “Kaleb called you his brother. You’ve spent all your school breaks in our home for the past year. You’re part of our family now. We don’t want to lose you too,” he told him. MG took his name off the list the next day. 

It was during dinner on the last day of school when a delegation of students approached the headmaster, led by Lizzie. “We’ve all been talking and we want to take those papers we wrote you all about the battle and make them into a book or something. Something to commemorate what happened.”

Ric was taken aback at that idea and looked at the twenty students in front of him representing all three main factions in the school. “Just the twenty of you or…”

“We’ve gotten the opinions of most of the upper classmen and they all agree,” MG explained. 

“We want the teachers and the rest of the students, especially those that died, to be remembered for their sacrifices,” Jed added. 

“And we want everyone to know that it’s okay to be scared or hurting or need help,” Josie chimed in. Hers was one of the more heart wrenching ones. 

“You always talk about how understanding each other is so important. This would help with that,” Landon finished. 

Seeing that every eye in the room was on them, Ric asked the group as a whole, “Anyone else have anything to add?” When no one spoke up, Ric told them. “We’ll discuss it and make an announcement after dinner. For now go eat.”

No one left when they were done eating, all waiting for the announcement and watching the lively debate at the teacher’s table that they couldn’t hear due to privacy spells. Finally Ric stood up and moved to the stairs to make the announcement. “We have agreed to create a book with all of your accounts, but the author’s name will not be included. You are, of course, welcome to let each other know which is yours. I know that many of them will be obvious who wrote it anyway so any of you who want yours excluded from the book, just let the teacher you gave it to know before you leave tomorrow. If you can’t get in touch with that teacher, then let me know personally.” 

They were all surprised that not a single student wanted theirs excluded and at the final faculty meeting a few days after the students left, Ric turned to Damon. “As much as I hate to say it, you were right.” 

“About what?” Damon asked. 

“Fighting side by side has united this school in a way I never dreamed to see. Not that I would have wished for it this way, of course, but the results are heartening,” Ric told him. 

“I completely agree. Even if we hadn’t lost any students, none of us would have wanted it this way, but sharing adversity, triump, loss…it’s made a huge difference,” one of the teachers said.

“I think it’s more a matter of being put on the same side,” Bonnie reasoned. “There was an enemy that was after all of them. If they had only been after the witches or the werewolves or the vampires then it would probably have hurt the situation and caused friction with that group, but this way, they were all in it together.”

“However it happened, we need to make sure it continues,” Ric said and conversation turned to ways that they could keep up the trend once the students came back and even over the summer. Everything from rewards, field trips, more extra-cirricular activities and so one was suggested. Some were approved, some were set aside to be reconsidered later, and some were thrown out outright, but it was a good brainstorming session either way before they split for the summer with the bulk of the staff going home. 

Elena and Kai were doing the bulk of the work on putting the book together and all of the staff had decided to write their own accounts, including heavy praise for the students. For each of the fallen students and two teachers they added a chapter at the end about their life, accomplishments, anecdotes and more. The staff that weren’t there for the summer were either going to drop off their accounts or mail them in depending on where they were. They wanted to have at least a thousand copies printed by the time the students returned. One for each of the upper class students, copies for their parents to pick up if they wanted them when they dropped the kids off, one copy would be sent to the families of all of the casualties, they would send a few to the elves if they were interested, and a few copies for the school library for future generations. 

Since they had long been printing their own textbooks they had their own printing press, so it was relatively simple to set up. Elena had been using it often for the last year so she was more than familiar with it even though Dorian had left. He had submitted his resignation after the battle. He and Emma had been in a relationship and losing her hit him hard. He couldn’t face being at the school without her, and since the school was growing and Ric had more help now, he didn’t have to feel like he was abandoning his friend.


	33. Chapter 33

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so this is a super long epilogue. There was just so much to put in and not really a good cutoff point, so it ended up being the length of three chapters in one lol.

Two weeks into the summer they were contacted by the elves again. This time they were acting as intermediaries for the Fae as well. They asked for a meeting between the headmaster, Kai, Pandora, and representatives from both races to take place at the school. When their representatives entered, Pandora sucked in a sharp breath in shock and bowed low, prompting the other two to do the same. The crowns on the heads of both leaders were a pretty big clue of why. While neither race was comfortable letting anyone in on the secret of their homelands, they did want to test the waters in the world again. Each group wanted to send fifty of their students to the school and would send five teachers each as well. The teachers would teach all of the students who wished to learn their history and culture and teach their own students and any others with the affinity, their specific brands of magic. Their students would join the rest for their general classes and have the option to join any theoretical magic classes to gain a better understanding a spirit magic and how it worked. 

It was decided that ten of each group would be younger students for the lower school and the rest would be a variety of ages for the upper school. One of the elf teachers would join the lower school staff while the rest would teach at the upper school. There was some finagling to figure out who would teach to who, and then some more that involved payment since they didn’t use the same currency. Since both elves and fae used precious gems as currency, it was decided that they would pay the student tuition that way and then Ric would use what was needed of that to pay their teachers and anything left he could sell as needed for money for the school. They agreed to meet back in a week to work out exchange rates once Ric had a jeweler consulted. 

Ric also asked for copies of any textbooks they would want to use in their classes that would include the entire school a month in advance so that they could have copies printed. The fae and elves would be housed together in the new dorms that the elves had used on their previous visits, due to the close ties between the races. Most of their teachers would be housed with the lower school as was the way of things at the Salvatore school, save for one elf couple and one fae couple who would each have an apartment in the dorm building. Since the lower school students were ten per dorm room, they decided to keep them segregated at first with the ten elf children in one room and the ten fae children in another room. Once they were settled and more comfortable they would discuss splitting them up and integrating them more. 

There was still the minutia to discuss, but that would be for later once the teachers were chosen. They would arrive a week before the start of the year with the rest of the teachers at the school to handle the last of the details and make sure the arrangements were set for their children. The meeting ended up lasting most of the day, with the midday meal provided since fae ate on the same schedule as elves. Ric was left with one each of the typical gems they used for currency so that he could work out an exchange rate, and once it was set, the gems would be an advance on the student tuitions. In the end, everyone walked away happy and full of hope for the future. A future where every supernatural race could coexist peacefully. 

Ric set Damon the task of meeting with the jeweler since Damon already knew a little something about the subject and wasn’t likely to end up ripped off and would be more than intimidating if they tried. At the meeting a week later, the exchange rates were set which allowed salaries and tuition to be settled on. The Salvatore School teachers had also had the idea to bring the elves in on their book idea. They offered them the chance to have those who fought send in their accounts of the battle and have a chapter written about each of the fallen elves. The elf king thought it was a great idea and promised to have the information from anyone who wanted to participate dropped off within two weeks along with their textbooks. It would push their printing time back by a week, but they could work on copying the textbooks in that time instead. It only took roughly a day per book to print enough copies for the entire school and there would be at least a few of each added to the school library. 

The book about the battle ended up being a hit among the students. It was divided up into sections. One section with the vampire accounts, one for the witches, one for the werewolves, one for the elves, one for the teachers and those who didn’t fit any of those categories, and the last section was tributes to the fallen. Once school started back, the students were found going around and signing their chapters in each other’s books. All of the parents picked up copies of the books when they dropped their students off, wanting to better understand what had happened and how it affected the kids. Thankfully, all of the parents understood that there was an inherent danger in being part of the supernatural community in the first place and recognized that the teachers had done everything that they could to minimize the danger and help the students face it. The few that didn’t were easily talked around through a meeting with the senior staff. 

The elves and fae were easily integrated into the school population and made friends easily. Due to a combination of the inherent peacefulness of both races, the fact that there were no longstanding feuds between them, the loyalty and gratitude the students felt for the elves that easily extended to their closest friends, the fae, and the curiosity of all of them about each other, it was easy to see much more variety in the groups of friends than ever before. This was made easier by the fact that the previous students had a much greater camaraderie than in the past as well limiting the friction. 

Since Wade moved into the fae dorms, Sirius only had three students in his section, but that only lasted one year before they were building yet another dorm due to the increasing number of other species. There were no more large delegations, but a few students here and there from a variety of species, most long thought extinct were being enrolled and the rare students had their own building. The staff was growing just as quickly with more and more people wanting to throw their efforts into creating a united supernatural world. 

Sirius decided to spent quite a bit more of his money buying up as much as he could of Mystic falls and renting space out to supernaturals or family of supernaturals to live close to the school. There were a few stubborn people that didn’t want to leave, but even they caved after a decade or two due to the changes the town was undergoing. They didn’t know their new neighbors were supernatural, but they did know that they were weird. Eventually Mystic Falls was all supernatural just like it had been so many centuries ago. 

When Hope graduated that spring, she declined the headmistress job that Ric offered her, but agreed to be the deputy and learn the ropes more fully. After the first five years they switched and Ric became the deputy where he stayed until his eventual death. Hope and Landon were married a year after they graduated and all of their children phoenix and tribrid alike called the Salvatore school home. They only had a few children at a time, but since they were both immortal, every fifty or sixty years they had another batch. Hephaestus was present at the birth of each of their children and was the godfather of them all. Even the tribrids. Hope remained headmistress for three hundred years before she and Landon moved on, passing the title to one of their great grandchildren and spent time all over the world, moving to a new place every hundred years or so. Thanks to Landon’s ability to transport them instantly anywhere in the world, they never had to worry about losing touch with their family. 

By the time Raphael and Landon’s class graduated a year after Hope, Remus still wasn’t ready to be alpha, so Raphael stayed on to teach physical education and remained alpha. Jed had already graduated and moved away so he had a new student beta by that point. Remus never did take the alpha position for the pack, but remained a member of it and a teacher at the school for the rest of his life. 

Sirius also remained at the school, partially to be with his mate and partially because he loved it. He was very much like Damon in his teaching methods. His students called him Sirius instead of Mr. Black. He just wasn’t nearly as intimidating as the vampire who had become one of his closest friends. Harry had officially moved in with Sirius and Remus and had guardianship signed over after his first year at the school and two years later they adopted a three-year-old orphaned witch that had popped up on their radar. Harry loved having a little brother and took to the role with ease. A year after that he added a little sister to the mix with a six-year-old abandoned wood nymph. 

In their senior year, MG finally got the object of his affections and he and Lizzie became a solid couple in record time. Josie and Lizzie started their video editing company and Lizzie and MG moved into Mystic Falls renting a house from Sirius that also doubled as their studio. Josie lived with them until she and Penelope, who had blossomed once it was learned that she was a nymph rather than a witch, were married a year later and they moved next door, but she still spent her days at work with her twin sister. As promised, Damon and Kai both chipped in and gave the twins all the money they needed to start the business. After floundering for a year or two, Ric decided to offer his son-in-law a job and MG became a recruiter for the school. His compulsions may not be up to par for all situations, but for minor modifications like getting children out of abusive homes when they were found, he was plenty capable of. That just required a tweak to their thinking about how they would rather be without the child that they so despised. 

Since neither couple could have children naturally, they convinced Kai and Bonnie to come up with a magical form of in vitro. Jo suggested that they just get normal in vitro, and they agreed to if a magical version couldn’t be created, but there was no guarantee how normal in vitro would interact with magic. Jo couldn’t really argue with that. She doubted that it would make much difference, but there was a chance, however slim, that there could be complications from it. It took Kai and Bonnie almost a year to get it figured out and tested safely. They weren’t able to make the baby genetically more than one of theirs, but the fact that Lizzie’s children weren’t his biologically didn’t matter one whit to MG who was just glad to have the change to be a dad in the first place. Josie and Penelope each had two children that they raised together. Two of Lizzie’s three children ended up being siphoners while one of Josie’s was. Both of Penelope’s were shadow nymphs like her of course. After their children started school, Lizzie decided that she wanted MG to turn her so they wouldn’t have to be separated by death. Lizzie was surprised to learn that she could still use her magic after being turned and that it was more stable now which meant Kai had a new research project to figure out how. It turned out that since she was a siphoner and didn’t have her own magic, her power was unchanged but she now had the constant magical power battery of vampirism to draw off of. 

Elena’s suspicions after the battle ended up being true and by the time Luna started at the upper school, she had shared those suspicions with Kai and Bonnie, so none of them were surprised when little Kai and Gabe stayed single until they were twenty two and Luna turned sixteen when the three of them finally began to date. The Bennett twins followed in their father and mother-in-law’s footsteps and became magical researchers, incorporating a lot of what their younger soulmate could see from other dimensions. Since their books were the only ones published on the subjects, the names Luna gave to the creatures she saw ended up being the accepted names, even though some of them she had named when she was little so the names were a bit silly like crumple-horned snorkacks. It helped that the other fae children with the same ability had looked to her for guidance when they first came to the school so picked up those names as well. The trio ended up having six children, two of whom were siphoners. Since they were three quarters witch and only a quarter fae, none of them had the ability to see other dimensions like Luna did which disappointed her, but naturally she never loved them any less for it. 

Harry and Damien remained best friends all the way until they became more. Harry realized that he was gay when he was twelve. Damien didn’t realize it until he was thirteen. They realized that they were in love with each other when they were fourteen. Harry had no problems telling his godfathers since it was clear that they would have no problems with it, but Damien was more than a little scared about how his dad would react so they kept their relationship secret until they were seventeen. When they finally told Damon and Elena, Damon laughed and told them that they had figured it out years ago and what took them so long to tell them. Both Damon and Elena found their reactions more than a little amusing. They were married at twenty and Harry convinced Damien to turn him at twenty five so that they could have eternity together. Since they wouldn’t be having any children, there was no need to carry on the Potter name and Harry took the more well-connected Salvatore name. Though they ended up keeping enough to live comfortably for the rest of eternity, most of the Potter fortune ended up trickling through the school as it was needed. 

Lynn ended up marrying her first friend, Pedro. As a dryad, he had an innate connection with the circle of life and thus never wanted to be turned, so they only got to spend his natural lifetime together. Of course, they learned later that attempting to turn him would likely kill him as it did when someone attempted to turn an elf. They realized that since vampirism was rooted in spirit magic, it wasn’t compatible with beings of nature magic. Lynn did eventually go on to marry again, but not until about a hundred years after losing her first love. 

Steffi ended up leaving after she graduated to travel the world and never ended up in any long term relationship until she came back to Mystic falls almost a hundred years later. She ended up falling in love with one of Hope and Landon’s grandchildren who was a tribrid, being born of one of their daughters instead of a phoenix son and they were married two years to the day after they met. Carrie married a human that she had met while visiting a prospective student for the school. He was a single dad of a young witch boy. The boy’s mother was presumably a witch but she had disappeared not long after the baby was born. They had three more children, one of whom was a siphoner like her father. 

Serenity never married and spent the remainder of her life at the school working under her godmother. Elena was more than glad of the help. While she had an entire department under her by that point, Ser was the one she trusted the most. Jeremy was the biggest surprise of all. He ended up marrying an elf when he was a ripe old age of fifty. They ended up with two half elf children before Jeremy died at eighty. Elves lived for hundreds of years so his wife outlived him by a lot, but never married. She dedicated her life to raising their children. 

Stefan and Caroline ended up taking the cure ten years after the battle of the school. When Stefan started struggling with his ripper side again, he decided to be proactive before he ended up on another ripper binge and took the cure with Caroline taking it from him after. They ended having three children, two boys and a girl. To repay her best friends for each naming a daughter for her, Caroline insisted that their daughter be named Bonelle but Stefan got his choice of middle name of Lilian. Like Damon had done, Stefan gave his first son another version of his name and called him Steven. Their last boy. Their second son was named William Elias for both of Caroline’s parents since they weren’t sure if they were going to have a girl. Since by the time their kids came around, Mystic Falls was fully supernatural and the only school remaining was the Salvatore school, they had to send their kids to a private school in the next town over. While they knew about the supernatural world, they weren’t supernatural themselves so weren’t eligible for the school that shared their name. All of their children were though since all three of them married supernaturals, a witch, a werewolf, and a fae respectively. 

Ric and Jo remained at the school for the remainder of their lives and lived to see it grow into something far grander than their wildest dreams. Even then they had a feeling that it wasn’t finished yet. That would be something for future generations to see though. They died within hours of each other and there was no question that they would be laid to rest in the cemetery of the school that they had founded. They would join all of the students they had lost so many years ago. 

Kai ended up teaching a class for siphoners only, that consisted solely of his grandchildren and his greatnieces and nephews. After his retirement that class was taken over by his son and namesake. Bonnie went on to become the head of an entire department of witch teachers as their numbers swelled. The only class she continued to teach was the dark magic course for seniors, but their numbers had swelled so much that she still had five separate classes, one per day. The rest of her time was spent administering the department. In addition to the siphoner class, Kai continued his uncommon magics class, but he and Gabe alternated years as enrollment increased. Uncommon magics was one of the most popular electives and even after the one required year, more than half of the students continued in it. He and Bonnie retired together when they were a hundred and twenty. Given the difficulty with calculating Kai’s age, he had long decided to just not worry about it and claim the same age as Bonnie. Once they retired they dedicated their time to being full time great-grandparents to their ever expanding brood. Bonnie died first when they were a hundred and sixty three, and Kai hung on long enough to give her an epic sendoff before joining her. They too were laid to rest in the school cemetery. 

Damon remained the dorm supervisor of the vampire students, even as more vampires came to teach. He did end up giving up the vampire integration class to one of his graduates after about fifty years in the position though. By that time, Colin had gained enough experience and practice out in the world for him to be comfortable handing it off. He traded off the Latin classes after about ten years and as student numbers increased so too did the number of teachers for the subject. Once he gave up the latin classes, he started teaching Greek which was an elective open for all students. Ten years later, after handing those classes off to graduates, he moved on to French, and then Russian, and so on. Not much ever kept his attention for very long. He just managed to train people up to take over for him so that he could move on. One class he never moved on from was the combat class, now with a wider variety of students. He did end up having to teach seniors only due to the increase in numbers. There were only so many that could be supervised at one time. Raphael ended up taking the juniors. 

The first year the program started, Elena had six students in her one class, and only one of those stayed on after graduation to help with the archives. The next year was better though and she got three more assistants. They didn’t do much more than sort though. It wasn’t until Damon’s language students started graduating that they started making better progress. Especially since Damon never stopped learning languages so kept adding more and her department grew. Eventually it reached the stage where she could stop organizing altogether and dedicate all her time to writing which was what she really wanted. She just had to tell them what topic she wanted to write about and all the relevant materials were delivered to her inbox. She rewrote all the ancient legends and eventually ended up writing a book about the founding of the school that became a supplement to the book about the battle which was seen as the ‘turning point for unification’. In the first hundred years after returning from the prison world, she had written and/or compiled eighty books and the number just kept continuing to rise. Eventually even their own stories became part of legend. She had even written a book detailing their experiences in the prison world. 

Damon and Elena waited until Damien, Steffi, and Lynn had all grown up and were settled in their own lives for a couple decades before doing the ritual again and having more children. This time they had four due to the third pregnancy being twins. This time they had three boys and a girl. For nostalgia’s sake Damon delivered them all. Under the supervision of a doctor this time of course. Losing their closest friends was beyond difficult for them both, particularly Stefan. While Damon considered both Kai and Ric brothers, Stefan was different. He was the one that had been there for Damon’s entire life, despite how rocky much of it was. He was blood. They doted on their nephews and niece and then their great-nephews and nieces, and so on, though they did mostly lose track after the third generation. There were just too many of them. 

The Salvatore school continued to grow until the campus spanned five square miles. There were more than thirty dorm buildings that remained segregated with few exceptions. Similar species were housed together like the elves and the fae who were joined by the dryads. All species of nymphs were housed together, and so on. About a hundred and fifty years after the Battle of the Salvatore School, many of the faculty suggested that due to how big they were getting they should separate into separate schools for each species. That idea was shot down immediately and vehemently, most vocal among them were headmaster and headmistress Landon and Hope Kirby and Damon and Elena Salvatore. They argued that it would go against the very purpose of the school which was created for the sole purpose as to integrate the different species. They did agree that something needed to be done though, so they split the school into three levels. The lower school had always been somewhat separate but not completely. Now it was completely separate. There was Salvatore Primary School, Salvatore Middle School, and Salvatore Preparatory School. Landon and Hope remained Headmaster and Headmistress of the Preparatory School which housed ninth through twelfth graders. MG and Lizzie Greasely became headmaster and headmistress of the middle school and Harry and Damien Salvatore were the headmasters of the primary school. They intentionally chose couples that were immortal to allow more stability in the school and how it was run. 

The Salvatore school ended up being the center of a worldwide movement of supernatural unity and more and more schools started springing up around the world with the same vision. Eventually, and completely accidentally, humans ended up being bred out, starting with the US thanks to the massive number of supernaturals coming through the Salvatore school calling the country home and mixing with the humans. If there was one thing that they’d learned about magic it was that magic always bred true. They lived in a golden age of peace and prosperity with magic running rampant through the world for more than a thousand years. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and peace is always eventually broken by war, but that’s for another story.


End file.
